Roasted Aubergine with Harissa Spiced Lentils

I saw Jamie Oliver post a picture on his Instagram account a couple of weeks back and since then I have been dreaming about his vegan aubergine dish. 

He did a pretty amazing job of describing the dish and his description was pretty much what I followed to create my own version of this dish. For any one who is interested in Jamie Oliver's dish, it is available at Jamie's Italian and it is vegan as well. That is brilliant for anybody who is vegan and struggles to find half decent vegan options at restaurants. 

I m super pleased with how the dish turned out eventually and I cannot wait to make this again. 

To somewhat create Jamie's dish you will need the following- 

1 aubergine 

Harissa paste

1 onion 

A tin of soaked lentils

6 tomatoes

Smoked paprika

Cumin 

Sumac

Rocket leaves

Pomegranate 

Lemon 

Salt 

Pepper

Heat some extra virgin olive oil in a pan and add chopped onions to it. Sweat the onions for a couple of minutes on high heat and then add in some salt and pepper. Sweat the onions for a few more minutes and add the tomatoes to the pan. You could chop tomatoes or you could simply blend them into a puree and add them that way. 

Cut your aubergine in half and layer it with some extra virgin olive oil and rub some salt and pepper on the aubergine halves. Squeeze some lemon juice and throw on generous quantities of sumac, ground cumin and smoked paprika on the aubergine halves and then put them in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees to roast for about 40 minutes. Aubergines on their own can taste a bit strange but by adding these spices they get a lovely colour & taste as they roast.

Lets get back on the sauce now. Let it cook for a few minutes till your tomatoes start getting a good orange to red colour. To this add the harissa paste;  I just went in with the full bottle. The thing with harissa is that it is not spicy as such, it has a slightly spicy after-taste-kick-thing going, which I love!

Once the harissa paste is nicely mixed in add a bit of cumin, sumac, smoked paprika and lemon juice and also tip in the lentils. You could use a mix of lentils and even chickpeas. I just used a tin of lentils (not proud of using the tin lentils). Let this cook for 10-15 minutes.

When your aubergine halves are nicely roasted, soft & squishy, with a fork dent some space on the aubergine to stack your lentil sauce on it. Serve with rocket leaves and pomegranate. 

His dish also had a garlic almond yogurt element which I skipped. But even without the yogurt, it was rather delicious.

The different textures and flavours make a seriously kick-ass combination. This dish is really delicious, healthy and filling; all at the same time. It is also gluten free. 

I think it's amazing that Jamie Oliver has introduced this scrumptious vegan option at his Jamie's Italian  restaurant.  I cannot wait to try this dish at his restaurant. But till then I am quite happy tucking into my version of it. 

If you get to try this at home or even at Jamie's Italian, please let me know. Hope you are having a fabulous Bank Holiday Weekend. xoxox