Eggplant with Ground Tomato Filling

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 500 g canned tomatoes
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 pinch sugar
• basil (for garnish)
• 2 Eggplants
• 1 onion
• 1 Garlic clove
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 0.5 tsp Dried oregano
• 0.5 tsp dried thyme
• 1 egg
• 4 Tbsp breadcrumbs
• 80 g freshly grated Parmesan
• 300 g Ground Beef
• Salt
• black pepper (ground)
• 4 tomatoes

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash the eggplants and cut them lengthwise in half. Boil covered in salted water for 2-3 minutes. Remove, drain, and let cool. Scoop out the flesh leaving a 1 cm border. Arrange halves side‑by‑side in a heatproof dish. Finely chop the scooped flesh and squeeze out excess moisture. Peel and finely chop the onion and garlic clove. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan. Sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add eggplant flesh, oregano, thyme and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to cool.

2. 2.

   Preheat the oven to 200°C fan.

3. 3.

   Whisk the egg, add breadcrumbs, 4 tbsp Parmesan and sautéed eggplant mixture to the ground beef; knead well. Season with salt and pepper. Fill each eggplant half with the meat mixture and sprinkle with an extra tablespoon of Parmesan. Bake in the preheated oven for 15–20 minutes. Wash tomatoes, halve, core and dice finely.

4. 4.

   For the tomato sauce peel the onion and garlic cloves. Roughly chop both and sauté in hot oil until translucent. Add diced tomatoes and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Season with salt, sugar and pepper.

5. 5.

   Arrange stuffed eggplants on plates, sprinkle with tomato cubes, pour over tomato sauce and garnish with basil leaves. Serve immediately.