After thinking long and hard about what to give up during Lent ( I have never given up anything), I decided that I should make up for all those times when I gave up nothing and go big. So, I decided on meat. Then I remembered that in our African culture it is very rude to refuse food from other people, especially meat. The final decision was this: no meat from midnight on Sunday/Monday morning till midnight on Friday/Saturday morning. This is because weekends have sport, birthday parties, etc. and there is meat involved. Weekends are also the only time one gets to sit down and have a proper fry up breakfast, and I just couldn’t give that up.
It has been three days now, and its going very well. Early days, I guess. I have a couple of cookbooks so I shouldn’t battle with some decent nosh and should save me a couple of rands too. The first day, I made this Afghani aubergine casserole and thought I would share my revamped version with you. Instead of grilling the aubergines, Reza Mahammad (that gay looking fella on BBC Food) fries them. The dish becomes too oily for my liking. We all know how aubergines mop up all the oil when you fry them.
Cut about 600g of aubergines into 1 cm thick slices. Salt lightly and drizzle with olive oil. Put on a roasting pan and roast for about 20 minutes on 180 °C, turning it after ten minutes. The aubergine should be slightly brown. While this is roasting, fry some garlic and green chillies in vegetable oil, and add a can of chopped tomatoes that are blended into a smooth liquid. Add a teaspoon of ground cumin, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Let this simmer for twenty minutes into a sauce consistency, and add salt and black pepper to taste.
You then take a shallow baking tray and spread a third of the tomato sauce. Pile a layer of the grilled aubergine, and then sprinkle some chopped mint. Add another third of the tomato sauce and then repeat the process. Put this in an oven and bake at 190°C for 30 minutes. The end dish looks like a vegetarian lasagna without the white sauce, and is lovely with naan bread or rice.
This dish actually gave me hope that this period will actually be quite enjoyable. At first I thought I would have to buy those ready made Arabiatta sauces and frozen vegetarian pizzas. Hopefully, when I write next week my spirits will still be this high.
It has been three days now, and its going very well. Early days, I guess. I have a couple of cookbooks so I shouldn’t battle with some decent nosh and should save me a couple of rands too. The first day, I made this Afghani aubergine casserole and thought I would share my revamped version with you. Instead of grilling the aubergines, Reza Mahammad (that gay looking fella on BBC Food) fries them. The dish becomes too oily for my liking. We all know how aubergines mop up all the oil when you fry them.
Cut about 600g of aubergines into 1 cm thick slices. Salt lightly and drizzle with olive oil. Put on a roasting pan and roast for about 20 minutes on 180 °C, turning it after ten minutes. The aubergine should be slightly brown. While this is roasting, fry some garlic and green chillies in vegetable oil, and add a can of chopped tomatoes that are blended into a smooth liquid. Add a teaspoon of ground cumin, a teaspoon of salt and a teaspoon of sugar. Let this simmer for twenty minutes into a sauce consistency, and add salt and black pepper to taste.
You then take a shallow baking tray and spread a third of the tomato sauce. Pile a layer of the grilled aubergine, and then sprinkle some chopped mint. Add another third of the tomato sauce and then repeat the process. Put this in an oven and bake at 190°C for 30 minutes. The end dish looks like a vegetarian lasagna without the white sauce, and is lovely with naan bread or rice.
This dish actually gave me hope that this period will actually be quite enjoyable. At first I thought I would have to buy those ready made Arabiatta sauces and frozen vegetarian pizzas. Hopefully, when I write next week my spirits will still be this high.
So…. if you love meat and want to visit me, don’t come during the week
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