This aubergine and kidney bean bake is a perfect winter warmer, full of warm flavours. The biggest chore in this recipe is chopping up the vegetables, the rest makes itself in the oven! I use a shortcut to cook the onions and garlic by placing them in a bowl with some oil and cooking in the microwave at full blast for a few minutes. This saves time and work, and there is one less pan to clean up afterwards but you can sweat them in the usual manner. I like to use Lebanese 7 spice to give the dish a Middle Eastern twist, but if you don’t have any you can always use a combination of cinnamon, ground coriander and ground cumin, a pinch of ground clove, ground cardamon and black pepper. I like to have this with vermicelli rice, but you can have it with potatoes too.
Ingredients
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium aubergine
- 1 medium courgette
- 240 g (drained) kidney beans
- 1 medium onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
- 1 tsp Lebanese 7 spice
- 400 g tinned tomatoes
- 1 cup (240 ml) water
- Salt to taste
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium aubergine
- 1 medium courgette
- 8½ oz (drained) kidney beans
- 1 medium onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 tbsp sweet smoked paprika
- 1 tsp Lebanese 7 spice
- 14 oz tinned tomatoes
- 1 cup water
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (355F).
- Finely dice the onion and 2 cloves of garlic, place in a bowl with 2 tbsp of olive oil and cook at full power for 5 minutes. This will cook them until translucent.
- Dice the peppers, aubergine and courgette into small cubes and add to a baking dish. Gently crack the other 2 cloves of garlic and these whole (with the skin on).
- Add the sweet smoked paprika, the spices and seasoning, the tomatoes and a cup of water.
- Add the drained kidney beans and the cooked onions and mix well.
- Add the remainder of the olive oil on top and bake at 180C (355F) for 1 hour.