Recipe: Eggplant with cucumber and tomato salad

gorgeous squished on bread.

By Julie Biuso

These make a fab lunchtime dish, or serve with other salads and pulses as a centrepiece for an all-vegetable feast. Leftovers are

gorgeous squished on bread.

Prep time: 25 minutes

Cook time: 50 minutes

Serves 2-4

Ingredients

Eggplants

2 medium eggplants (aubergines)

1 tsp each ground cumin, ground coriander seeds and flaky sea salt

¼-½ tsp chilli flakes (you decide!)

1½ -2 Tbsp olive oil

Salad

½ telegraph cucumber, chopped

1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped

3 Tbsp chopped parsley

2 Tbsp chopped mint

2 Tbsp chopped coriander

1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 hot green chilli, halved, deseeded and finely chopped

1 tsp flaky sea salt

1 Tbsp olive oil

Finely grated zest ½ lemon

1 Tbsp lemon juice

To finish and serve

½ cup plain unsweetened yoghurt

Crusty bread

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C. Trim the eggplants and cut them in half lengthways. Score the surface with a sharp knife. Place the eggplants cut side up in a shallow baking dish lined with baking paper. Mix the spices and salt, then rub them over the cut surfaces of the eggplants. Drizzle with oil (if the eggplants are large, you may need two tablespoons). Turn the eggplant halves over, placing them spiced side down on the paper. Bake for 45 minutes or until they are very tender when pierced with a skewer. Flip the eggplant halves spiced side up and return to the oven for an additional five minutes.

If preferred, peel the cucumber before chopping. Combine all the ingredients and taste - it should have a zing and a nice fresh chilli bite. If necessary, add extra lemon or salt, or if the chilli is too mild, add a pinch of chilli flakes.

Spoon salad and dollops of yoghurt on top of eggplant halves. Serve with bread.

Julie Biuso has been a magazine food editor and radio and television broadcaster for over forty years. In 2015, she launched [ www.sharedkitchen.co.nz sharedkitchen.co.nz], a premium subscription site offering monthly recipe-based newsletters, food archives and blogs. She is the author of 17 food books, many of which have won international awards, and has contributed to dozens more. Julie is a newly minted Master of Creative Writing (Auckland University 2024). She lives on Waiheke Island and is currently writing her first work of fiction.