Stuffed Eggplants with Couscous and Apricots

Ingredients

• 1 onion
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1.5 tsp harissa paste
• 175 ml vegetable broth
• 200 g Couscous
• 2 Apricots
• 700 g eggplants (2 large)
• Salt
• 1 Garlic clove
• 2 Spring Onions
• 200 g chickpeas (drained; canned)
• 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Sweet paprika powder
• Pepper
• 2 handfuls cilantro (5 g)
• 250 g yogurt (1.5% fat)
• 60 g pomegranate seeds (4 tbsp)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Peel and finely dice the onion. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a pot. Sauté the onion and harissa paste for 3 minutes over medium heat. Add broth and bring to a boil. Stir in couscous, remove from heat, add diced apricots, mix, and let sit.

2. 2.

   Meanwhile, clean, wash, halve eggplants lengthwise, and scoop out flesh leaving about a 1 cm border with a spoon. Salt the halves on both sides and let rest for 5 minutes.

3. 3.

   Dice the scooped eggplant flesh. Peel and finely chop garlic. Trim spring onions, wash, slice into thin rings, set aside some green for garnish. Sauté remaining onion, garlic, and eggplant in a hot pan with 1 tbsp oil for 3 minutes over medium heat. Drain chickpeas, rinse, let dry, then mix in.

4. 4.

   Add the mixture to the couscous, season with lemon juice, salt, paprika, and pepper. Fill the eggplant shells with the couscous mixture and place on parchment‑lined baking sheet. Drizzle remaining oil over them and bake at 180 °C (fan 160 °C; gas 2–3) for 35–40 minutes.

5. 5.

   During baking, wash cilantro, dry, strip leaves, chop, keep some for garnish, fold the rest into yogurt.

6. 6.

   Remove eggplants from oven, drizzle with a little yogurt, sprinkle with spring onion greens, cilantro leaves, and pomegranate seeds. Serve remaining yogurt on the side.