Name: Lentils with grilled aubergine
Yield: Serves 4
Ingredients: salt and black pepper; 2 tbsp crème fraîche (or natural yoghurt, if you prefer); 1 tbsp each roughly chopped parsley, coriander and dill; 2 medium aubergines; 2 tbsp top-quality red wine vinegar; 200 g small dark lentils (such as Puy or Castelluccio), rinsed; 3 small carrots, peeled; 3 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to finish; 12 cherry tomatoes, halved; 1/3 tsp brown sugar; 2 celery sticks; 1 bay leaf; 3 thyme sprigs; ½ white onion

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Plenty

By Yotam Ottolenghi

Published 2010

About

A most delicious main course for any occasion, formal or casual. After the recipe appeared in the Guardian I received two anxious letters from readers who had experienced mini-explosions in their kitchen. Apparently – and I didn’t know it then – in some cases aubergines under the grill can explode with a thunderous boom, the flesh spouting everywhere, rather than deflate gradually as the skin burns and breaks. I sincerely apologise to all who had this experience. So please make sure