Melt-in-your-mouth roasted eggplants with lemon yogurt, pomegranate & mint

Recipe steps

Prepare and score the eggplants

Preheat the oven to 220°C. Cut the eggplants in half lengthwise. Score the flesh in a crosshatch pattern with the tip of a knife, without piercing the skin — the idea is to open it up during cooking, not to wound it. Rub the flesh with 3 crushed garlic cloves, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle generously with olive oil. Eggplant always asks for more, so don’t be stingy.

Roast slowly in the oven

Place the eggplant halves cut-side up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Sprinkle with ground cumin. Bake until the flesh is deeply golden and completely tender when pierced with a knife — the eggplant should collapse a little on itself, like after a good nap.

Prepare the lemon yogurt and pine nuts

While the eggplants are cooking, mix the whole milk plain yogurt (or labneh) with the zest and half the juice of the lemon (juice + zest), a pinch of salt & pepper. Refrigerate until needed. Toast the pine nuts in a dry small pan for 2 minutes, watching carefully — pine nuts have the annoying habit of browning suddenly, without warning.

Glaze the eggplants

Remove the eggplants from the oven. In a small bowl, mix 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, 1 tablespoon liquid honey and the remaining juice of 1 lemon (juice + zest). Brush this glaze over the still-warm flesh — it will absorb it eagerly, like a sponge that has finally found the right liquid.

Plate and serve

Spread the lemon yogurt on the bottom of a serving dish. Place the glazed eggplant halves on top. Scatter with pomegranate seeds, toasted pine nuts and fresh mint leaves torn by hand. A final drizzle of olive oil and serve warm.

Tips and variations

• No oven big enough or short on time? This recipe also works very well in a pan, with thinner 1 cm slices, cooked 3 minutes on each side, covered.
• For a heartier main course version, add a spoonful of tahini to the yogurt and serve with bulgur or brown rice.