Eggplants hold a special place in Iraqi cuisine, in this is one of many variations of stews that are eaten with rice.  They are called Marga – equivalent to an Indian curry sauce, this one is hearty and has a blend of subtle flavours that blend so well together and are served as a delicious meal on special occasions.

Time:

1 hour

Serves:

8

Good for:

• Savoury and rich flavours
• Hearty and warm
• Easily converts to a vegetarian option

Ingredients:

• 4 large eggplants (about 1kg worth)
• Salt to rub on the eggplants
• 1.5 tbsp of cooking oil
• 1 diced large onion
• 500g of cubed beef meat
• 1 tbsp allspice or seven spice if you have it
• 1 tbsp of Turmeric
• 2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped
• Water (to cover the picture by 3 inches, depending on the pot)
• 2 diced medium Tomatoes
• 3 tbsp of Tomato Paste
• 1 tbsp Pomegranate Molasses
• 2 tspn of lemon juice
• Salt and pepper to taste

Kitchen things you’ll need:

• Large pot

Making it:

• After washing, peel the eggplants into stripes and cut the top stem off, then cut the eggplant in half lengthwise.
• Rub salt evenly onto the eggplant halves and fry them (or air fry them) until brown.  Make sure you heat the oil well before you place the eggplant and face them down (striped skin facing you) and cover them while they fry – be careful here of oil spraying at you.
• After slightly browning flip and cook the other side.  When finished drain the oil and let the cooked eggplant sit on a tilted plate for the rest of the absorbed oil to drain out.  This can be done a day ahead to save time.
• Sautee the onion until brown with a little oil (don’t put too much because the eggplant will release some oil as well).
• Then add the meat cubes, with the spices and turmeric, and stir until the meat is slightly browned.
• Add water to cover the mixer by about 3 inches.
• Add the garlic, diced tomatoes and the tomato paste to the mixture.
• Cook for another 10-15 minutes then add the eggplant on top and let it cook further for another 5 to 10 minutes adding the pomegranate molasses and the lemon juice.
• If the sauce is thin add more tomato paste, and if it’s thick you can thin it with water.
• Serve hot on a bed of rice.

Tips/notes:

• When serving with rice, make sure you use long grain basmati rice.
• Adding cauliflower instead of the beef makes this a great vegetarian meal option.