Chunks of meaty aubergine in a spicy sauce of cumin and corriander. It goes really well with slow-cooked pork, but also on toasted bread as bruschetta, or in a pilaf.

Recipe for spiced aubergine

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 large aubergine – ideally a Japanese one
• 1 red pepper
• olive oil – about 4 tbsps
• 2 fat garlic cloves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• juice of one lemon (8 tbsp/120ml/½ cup)
• small pack fresh coriander (28g/1 oz) – chopped – include the stems

Method

1. Heat the oven to 210°C (use bottom of top right Aga oven).
2. Cut the aubergine into chunks, if it’s not Japanese, put chunks in a colander and sprinkle with salt. Leave for a minimum of half an hour – an hour is better. This takes out any bitterness and it stops the aubergines from soaking up so much oil.
3. Halve, seed, and cut the pepper into strips.
4. Dry fry the seeds, and grind in a pestle and mortar – this will make your kitchen smell wonderful.
5. Pat the aubergines dry with a bit of paper towel (don’t rinse – they will soak up the water).
6. Mix all except the fresh coriander together in a roasting tin and cook for about 25 minutes (stirring the vegetables around halfway through).
7. Just before serving stir in the lemon juice and the fresh, chopped coriander.
8. Serve garnished with the lemon zest.