Roasted Lebanese Vegetables, Lamb Kofta and Aubergine Sauce

Jonny Stewart
by Jonny Stewart
5 Portions
1 hr 15 min

I am completely and utterly obsessed with vegetables. I love them, there's not a vegetable I'm not a fan of, whether it's a fresh tomato in a salsa, a roasted cauliflower or a sweet pickled cucumber, veggies are awesome! And in an effort to try and get more veggies into my diet I've been trying to make them the focus on the plate. Now, when I cook I've also got some people who can't live without meat so this time around I've used the lamb koftas to really add the meatiness they wanted, but without taking the focus away from the veggies! And talking of adding veggies in unexpectedly, there's an aubergine (eggplant) sauce here that you really wouldn't expect has a big hit of aubergine in, it just adds subtle sweetness and smokiness to the sauce! Delicious!

Play around with your veggies in here, it's a great way to get kids to eat more veg

Roasted aubergine makes the perfect accompaniment when added into this sauce, it looks unappetising but adds a great smokiness to the dish

Roasted Lebanese Vegetables, Lamb Kofta and Aubergine Sauce
Recipe details
  • 5  Portions
  • Prep time: 30 Minutes Cook time: 45 Minutes Total time: 1 hr 15 min
Show Nutrition Info
Hide Nutrition Info
Ingredients
For the roasted veggies
  • 2 bell peppers
  • 1 whole cauliflower
  • 10 small shallots
  • 1 butternut squash
  • 1 bulb garlic
  • Cumin
  • Paprika
  • Ras el hanout
  • Salt and pepper
  • Olive oil
Aubergine sauce
  • 1 aubergine
  • 200ml natural yoghurt or Greek yoghurt
  • 1 clove garlic
  • Cumin
  • Chilli flake
  • Smoked sea salt
  • Black pepper
Lamb kofta
  • 300g lamb mince
  • Cumin
  • Coriander
  • Mint
  • Salt
  • Pepper
Instructions
Veggies
Preheat oven to has mark 7, 220c, 425f
Cube and portion all your veggies, into bite sized pieces, it's okay if some are slightly larger than others
Coat in the olive oil, then coat in spice mix and toss until thoroughly coated
Place into large roasting tray and into oven until knife pierces flesh of both cauli and butternut squash
Kofta
Place all ingredients into large bowl and mix by hand until completely combined, all ingredients are to taste and you can always add other things too
Shape into long sausages, or balls, and cook either in skillet or under grill until cooked through, leave to one side
Aubergine sauce
Take aubergine and place onto wire rack
Place wire rack over flame and allow to completely char outside, swapping sides every 5 minutes, remove after 20 total
Cut aubergine in half lengthways and then scoop out innards, it's okay if some skin comes with it, discard rest of skin
In a bowl mix all ingredients and blend into fine paste, this mixture should be almost like a Greek yoghurt texture due to the aubergine
Finishing
For the last 2 - 3 minutes of veg cooking add koftas on top to reheat
Spoon veg onto plate, then sauce then koftas.
To garnish, you can use coriander leaves, mint leaves, pomegranate, it's completely up to you
Tips
  • A lot of this is free form as it's all about your taste, stay with the same basic flavours and you'll be great
  • You could remove the aubergine and add mint, to make a punchy mint sauce
  • If you've not got a flame for your aubergine, roasting it in the oven until it looks like it's collapsed also works
Jonny Stewart
Want more details about this and other recipes? Check out more here!
Go
Comments
Next