Friday 13 August 2010

2nd day of Ramadan

As promised I am back with more recipes. Last night I made a dish inspired by my mother in-law, and I say inspired because I do not have the recipe she uses, so I made it up and some of it I found online.

So here it is, the pictures do not do it justice, the dish is so good I could have it everyday.

STUFFED AUBERGINES

Serves 5

Recipe:

500g minced turkey or minced chicken
4 medium sized aubergines / eggplants
1/4 cup chopped spring onions
2tbsp light soya sauce
1tsp monosodium glutamate (msg) optional, but it adds a great flavour
oil for frying

Sauce:
2 cups water
1tbsp dark soya sauce
2tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2tbsp water mixed with 1tsbp corn starch (this is for right at the end before you serve)

In a bowl, add turkey or chicken mince, spring onions, light soya sauce, msg and mix well. Put aside. Cut the aubergines /eggplants on a slight angle, about 1 1/2 inches thick, keep going until you have cut up all four aubergines/eggplants. Take one of the pieces and cut in half, BUT do not cut all the way down. You are only make a slit almost, because in that goes the meat. you are creating almost a sandwich like result. 

 As you can see from the picture above. Continue stuffing the aubergines/eggplants. You might have some meat leftover, but not too much. Make sure the aubergines/eggplants have a good amount of meat. 


Once all done, fry the aubergines until slightly browned. They will require a bit of oil, aubergines/eggplants tend to suck up all the oil, but believe me it will not be oily once cooked. You need to fry them because you need it to go soft during the cooking process later. If you don't fry it and just cook it in the sauce, it will not go soft and it will not have that special flavour you get from fried aubergines. 

In a wok, add the water, soya sauce, sugar and salt and bring to a boil. Once the sugar and salt have dissolved, add your aubergines, making sure majority of it are covered with liquid. Especially the larger sizes. Leave to cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes, then turn some over and the ones not covered with liquid should be swapped around with ones that have been covered in the sauce the previous 15 minutes.  Cook for another 15 minutes or until all the aubergines/eggplants are soft and tender. Remove from the heat. Take the aubergines/eggplants out very gently and place in a bowl. Add the starch mixture to the left over sauce in the wok and put it back on the heat just until the sauce has thickened whilst stirring so nothing sticks to the bottom. Pour the sauce over the aubergines/eggplants. Serve with white rice, not basmati, maybe a Thai rice and enjoy!

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