Eggplant Stuffed with The Lebanese Flavors
This is one of the best delicious and deceptive dishes from the Lebanese menu. These casual baby eggplants are tastier than ever by the stuffing of ground beef and other flavorful ingredients. They are easy to prepare and look so tempting at the dining table.
Ingredients:
Preparation Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Serving Size: 6
Instructions:
1. Scoop the eggplants from the base keeping 1/3 inch of the inner walls. Keep them aside.
2. Wash the rice grains well by sieving them. Remove the excess water.
3. Drizzle the oil in a pan or skillet and set it on the flame.
4. Sauté the pine nuts till they change the color to slightly golden. This will take around 2-3 minutes.
5. Remove the nuts from the pan and keep them aside.
6. Stir-fry the minced garlic cloves and onion in the same pan for about 7-8 minutes on medium flame. Sauté till they become soft and golden.
7. Remove the above sautéed with the pine nuts.
8. Pour the stock into the skillet and add in the canned tomatoes.
9. Sprinkle the salt and black pepper into the above stock, simmer, and cook. Stir occasionally.
10. Take a large bowl, combine the washed rice, beef chucks, 1/2 tsp of black pepper, a tsp of salt, and the prepared garlic onion mixture.
11. Spoon the above prepared meat-rice mixture into the hollow baby eggplants as stuffing. Don’t stuff too much as the rice grains will increase in size when it gets cooked.
12. Place the stuffed baby eggplants carefully in the same pan where you have prepared the tomato sauce.
13. Let the above get cooked for about an hour or till the rice gets cooked.
14. Remove the eggplants to boil the gravy till it meets your desired consistency.
15. Bring back the stuffed eggplants to the pan. Serve by garnishing with chopped parsley. Squeeze the lemon over the meal before eating.