Stuffed aubergine with lamb & pine nuts from Jerusalem (page 166) by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi

Accompaniments: Basmati rice & orzo

Always check the publication for a full list of ingredients. An Eat Your Books index lists the main ingredients and does not include 'store-cupboard ingredients' (salt, pepper, oil, flour, etc.) - unless called for in significant quantity.

Notes about this recipe

Schooffiecooks on March 29, 2026

Made it with cauliflower rice and topped it with feta!
Ishie1013 on July 13, 2023

I wanted to like this a lot more, but it was just okay, confirmed by a dining companion. I definitely agree with scoring the eggplant next time, and possibly scooping out some of the center before placing the "stuffing". The dish was a bit watery and the lamb a bit overcooked. The spice profile was good though I felt like the sauce with tamarind paste and lemon juice should have been poured over before cooking. It got kind of gummy to spoon over during cooking and a lot of the flavor was lost.
senzler on May 30, 2022

I have made this numerous times. Lovely flavor. I fell in love with this book because of this recipe! I have also frozen with great success.
anya_sf on July 23, 2020

Quite good. Like Aquila, I substituted pomegranate molasses for tamarind. My eggplants were slightly smaller, but were pretty crowded in the baking dish, so the lamb mostly stayed on top. Next time I'll try scoring the eggplant. After 1.5 hrs, the topping had kind of dried out, but I'd neglected to baste it, plus the foil wasn't super tight. The sauce didn't completely evaporate, but there wasn't enough to spoon over.
Aquila on May 11, 2019

I couldn’t find tamarind and subbed pomegranate molasses. Pine nuts were too expensive and subbed macadamia nuts (probably could have skipped). I cut my eggplant lengthwise then in half again. After the first bake I scooped out some of the eggplant before topping with the lamb. It was delicious despite my substitutions. I’ll make this again.
chawkins on September 18, 2017

Delicious! The hands off oven time for this dish is quite long, including the pre-roasting of the halved eggplants, it was close to two hours. The Italian eggplant that came out of the garden this year is so creamy and the fillings provided a contrast in texture. I scored the cut surface of the eggplant before roasting and the fillings adhered to the eggplant quite well, the sauce thickened nicely during the bake.
raybun on June 23, 2017

I made this again, only this time using little Indian aubergines. I also upped the sauce slightly and reduced the cooking time by 20 minutes. They were so delicious, and I appreciated having the extra tangy tamarind sauce that evaporated last time. Side note: pine nuts have gotten so expensive!
raybun on September 18, 2016

This dish was such a success! I loved the flavour combination of the spices with the lamb, and texture of the soft and slightly caramelized aubergine. The foil shifted during the second bake so my sauce unfortunately evaporated so make sure your dish is well sealed.
Delys77 on August 09, 2016

The lamb topping for this is delicious and adhered to the eggplant fairly well as I had scored my eggplant. My only challenge is that I found my eggplants a touch thick and so the end result had a bit too much of the mushy eggplant texture. If I were to repeat I might slice the eggplant into three pieces and either discard or use the centre slice to make for a thinner base.
JLDuck on July 12, 2016

Go crazy with the spices. I almost doubled the quantity and it was still delicious.
TrishaCP on November 14, 2013

Savory and delicious. Like most other recipes from this book, the spicing is spot on and wonderful. However, it is not the prettiest of dishes. The eggplant isn't hollowed out, so there isn't really anywhere for the stuffing to go but right on top, and it doesn't sink down either. Doesn't impact the taste or cooking, but hard to make it pretty. (I wouldn't be surprised to learn that the eggplant was hollowed out in the book photo.)
okcook on August 03, 2013

Very yummy. I used smaller Japanese eggplants from my garden so did not cook them as long as the recipe called for. This is a make again for sure.
KarinaFrancis on April 21, 2013

Loved it!! The sweetness and the spices made this more than a humble stuffed eggplant. I had a fair bit of stuffing left over so I used it as the base for a pilaf to serve with the eggplants and it worked surprisingly well (not the overkill I expected). I served it with a big blob of natural yogurt, which was a great contrast. Note for next time, score the eggplants before baking so the filling has something to grab onto.