Chermoula Roasted Eggplant with Herb Couscous

Eggplants or Aubergines are controversial: some hate it, some love it. Truth be told, I’m not the biggest fan of eggplant either. This becomes specially annoying when you’re eating out in European / Mediterranean restaurants as a vegetarian, and all they can offer you is popular meat-based dishes but with eggplant. Eggplant parmigiana, roasted eggplant, breaded eggplant cutlets… notice a pattern?

Honestly this is even more surprising considering that Mediterranean food has so many innovative ways to cook with this controversial vegetable— from babaganoush, to this gorgeous chermoula roasted eggplant, as long as it’s done right. And no one does it better than one of my favourite chefs and cookbook authors, Yotam Ottolenghi. Ottolenghi is an Israeli born British chef, and a master of the cuisine of the Middle East. What’s more, many of his recipes are extremely vegetable-forward. I’ve got two of his cookbooks: Jerusalem and Simple, and both are packed with gorgeous ideas and recipes for modern Israeli cooking. They’re bibles when it comes to cooking recipes from this region, and I highly recommend every cook (beginner and seasoned) to add them to their cookbook collection.

This chermoula roasted eggplant recipe is also inspired from one of Ottolenghi’s recipes. Chermoula is a mixture of herbs and spices that’s used in North African cooking, often used to season fish, meat or vegetables. In this recipe, Ottolenghi’s chermoula spice rub is used to flavour eggplants, which are then roasted until golden.

You can serve the eggplants as it is with some labneh as a side, but the addition of a herb couscous makes it a complete and hearty vegetarian dish. The herb couscous is packed with fresh herbs like parsley and mint, almost functioning as a tabbouleh-like salad. Add a bunch of raisins to the couscous while its cooking — the raisins will plump up, and add pops of sweetness to the dish.

I also added a generous amount of pomegranate molasses, because, I think pomegranates are beautiful and I’ll add them to any dish that they work in. But also, homemade pomegranate molasses has such a rich, intense, amazing flavour that I can eat spoonfuls of it from the jar! Garnish everything with more mint and pomegranate (of course).

Serve it slightly warm or room temperature, with Greek yogurt or labneh on the side. This tastes delicious as a vegetarian main, or as a part of a larger feast that includes a bunch of other dips (try hummus, beetroot hummus, labneh, and muhammara), pitas, and salad.

Chermoula Roasted Eggplant with Herb Couscous

Serves: 4-6

INGREDIENTS

For the chermoula roasted eggplant:

2 cloves garlic, grated
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
4-6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 large eggplants

For the herb couscous:

1 cup couscous
2 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup raisins
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
⅓ cup chopped parsley
¼ cup mint leaves, roughly torn
Salt and lime juice, to taste

To serve:

3 tablespoons pomegranate molasses
¼ cup pomegranate
A few mint leaves
Salted Greek yogurt or labneh (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
Make the chermoula spice rub that goes on top of the eggplants by mixing together the minced garlic, ground coriander, ground cumin, smoked paprika, salt, lime zest and juice with the olive oil in a small mixing bowl.
Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Using a knife, make diagonal cuts into the flesh of the eggplant in both directions, scoring it in a criss-cross fashion. Be careful not to cut it all the way through.
Spoon the chermoula spice mix over each half so that the cut side is fully covered. Place the eggplants on a baking tray and roast for 25-30 minutes or until completely soft.
While the eggplants are roasting, make the couscous. In a medium bowl, add the couscous along with the olive oil, paprika, and raisins. Add boiling water until it covers the couscous, and place a lid over the bowl. Let it cook, covered, for about 8 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed. Lightly fluff with a fork.
Add the chopped herbs to the couscous, and season with salt and lime juice.
To serve, place the eggplant halves on a plate. Spoon some of the couscous on top of each half. Drizzle the pomegranate molasses over it, and garnish with fresh mint and pomegranate. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature, alongside Greek yogurt or labneh.