Recipe: Ottolenghi-style oven dish with aubergine and chickpeas
Yotam Ottlogenhi is one of the most successful bestselling authors of the past decade. Two of his loyal cooking buddies from Team Ottolenghi created their own cookbook: Falastin. An absolute must for every Yotam fan, because this book is also filled with mouthwatering and colourful recipes from the Middle Eastern cuisine. Like this Arabic musaqa with aubergine and chickpeas.
This dish will remind many people of Greek moussaka, both because of its name and the pure emotions it evokes. It is a vegetarian version of the nutritious, simple, healthy and exceptionally delicious oven dish. It is suitable as a vegetable-based main course or as a side dish with just about anything, for example wrapped in a baked potato, or served with grilled meat, fish or tofu.
Make ahead
You can prepare and bake this dish in advance: you can keep it in the refrigerator for a maximum of 3 days, so you only need to warm it up briefly before serving.
How to make the musaqa with aubergine and chickpeas
- Preheat the oven to 220 °C.
- Using a vegetable peeler, peel strips from the aubergine skin in such a way that alternating purple and white stripes are visible, just like a zebra. Cut the aubergine horizontally into 2 cm-thick slices and place them in a large bowl. Mix them with 75 ml oil, 1 teaspoon salt and a generous twist of black pepper, and spread them over two baking trays lined with baking paper. Roast the aubergine slices for approximately 30 minutes until completely tender and lightly browned. Remove them from the oven and set aside.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 180 °C.
- Make the sauce while the aubergines are in the oven. Place a large sauté pan with 2 tablespoons of oil over medium-high to high heat. Fry the onion for approximately 7 minutes until tender and lightly browned. Add the garlic, chilli flakes, cumin seeds, cinnamon and tomato purée to the pan and fry gently for 1 minute, until fragrant. Add the peppers, chickpeas, canned tomatoes, sugar, 200 ml water, 1 teaspoon salt and a generous twist of black pepper. Reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 18 minutes until the peppers are tender. Stir the coriander through the vegetables and remove the pan from the heat.
- Arrange half of the plum tomatoes and half of the roasted aubergine slices on the bottom of an oven dish measuring approximately 20 x 30 cm. Spoon the chickpea mixture on top, followed by alternating layers of the remaining tomatoes and aubergine slices. Drizzle with the remaining oil, cover the dish with aluminium foil and place it in the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove the foil and bake the vegetables for another 20 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbling and the tomatoes are very soft. Remove the dish from the oven and let the contents cool for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with the remaining coriander and serve the dish warm or at room temperature. Garnish with the mint leaves and serve.
Title: Falastin
Authors: Sami Tamimi & Tara Wigley
With a foreword by Yotam Ottlolenghi
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers
Price: € 29,95
Also read:
