How to make marinated baked aubergines
Marinated baked aubergines
Time: 1 hour plus marinating
This is by far the best thing to ever happen to aubergines. The trick is to treat them like you would a good cut of meat – take time massaging the marinade into the flesh then cook nice and slowly for incredibly tender aubergine flesh that soaks up that punchy garlic, chilli and ginger marinade. These aubergines are wonderful cooked on the barbecue and make a great smokey addition for vegans.
Serves 4
3 garlic cloves, peeled
2 red chillies
2 inches ginger, peeled
4 aubergines
350g wild rice
25g coriander
5 tbsp soy sauce
5 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp peanuts, toasted
For the aubergine marinade, pop one of the red chillies, the ginger, garlic, soy sauce and olive oil into a food processor and blitz to a paste. Alternatively, bash the garlic, red chilli and ginger in a pestle and mortar to a course paste and stir through the olive oil and soy sauce.
Slash the aubergines three times on each side with a knife, being careful not to go too deep as they need to stay whole. Place in a baking dish then pour over the marinade. Use your hands to rub the marinade into the flesh and inside each of the incisions. Leave the aubergines to marinate for at least 10 minutes (or, even better, overnight).
Preheat the oven to 180C. Cover the dish with tin foil and cook for around 1 hour and 15 minutes until the skin is squidgy and the flesh soft. Alternatively, wrap each aubergine in foil and cook on the barbecue until soft.
While the aubergines are cooking, cook your wild rice in a pan of salted water according to pack instructions. Drain the rice and keep warm until you’re ready to eat.
Thinly slice the remaining red chilli, roughly chop the coriander and bash up the toasted peanuts.
Divide the rice between four plates and top each with an aubergine. Use a knife to pull apart the aubergine at the slashes to reveal the tender flesh inside. Sprinkle each plate with your crushed peanuts, sliced red chilli and coriander, pour over the juices from the roasting tin and serve.
Recipe from Farmdrop.com
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