Vegan Spicy Couscous Stuffed Baby Eggplants make a wonderful appetiser.
These cute little baby eggplants are filled with spicy tomato-y couscous and lots of dill, then drizzled with a simple cashew sauce – so good! This hearty appetiser is delicious warm or cold, so it’s perfect for summer picnics or potlucks. But it makes a great snack or side dish as well. Or you can serve these stuffed baby eggplants with a big bowl of green salad or a few slices of bread as a main dish. Either way, you’ll love these babies.
Well, I think this is going to be my last summer recipe for the year. It’s the last day of August and honestly, I couldn’t be more excited for the autumn and winter. Not that those 4 or probably 5 warm summer days here in Northern Germany weren’t amazing, but I’m just super into the cold months. I love rainy days, and surprise-surprise, autumn veggies are my absolute favourites! So I hope you are excited too, because the blog is going to be full with pumpkin, Brussels sprouts and kale recipes again!
But don’t worry, I don’t throw shade at summer produce…some of them are pretty awesome too. Like these mini baby eggplants. Aren’t they just the cutest ever?
I have wanted to try them for such a long time, and finally I’ve discovered a place where they sell these. What’s even better is that they sell them cheaper as regular aubergines, since they don’t look proper (growing not big enough). Crazy, right? Anyways, if you don’t have a super cool Turkish market near you to buy baby eggplants, you can also use regular ones for this recipes. In that case you could halve the eggplants after baking and simple scoop a good amount of couscous on top. Or if you want to keep this dish an appetiser, just slice eggplants thinly (before baking), then stuff them with the filling and roll them up into little rolls, like this.
If you try this recipe, let me know! I would highly appreciate if you could leave a comment and rate it. Also don’t forget to take a picture and tag it on Instagram (use the hashtag #greenevi) or post it on Facebook! I love seeing what you come up with! ♥︎
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Spicy Couscous Stuffed Baby Eggplants
- Total Time: 40 mins
- Yield: 2-4 1x
Ingredients
- 12 baby eggplants
For the spicy couscous
- 1/2 cup of couscous
- 2/3 cup of boiling water
- 1/2 lemon, juice
- 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tbsp oregano
- 1,5 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 clove of garlic, minced
- 2 scallions
- 1/3 cup of fresh dill
- 1 small chili pepper (optional)
- 1 tbsp tahini
- salt, pepper
For the cashew drizzle
- 1/2 cup of cashews, preferably soaked
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1/2 lemon, juice
- salt, pepper
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Instructions
- Pierce baby eggplants with a fork, and place them on a baking sheet. Bake at 200°C/400ºF for about 25 minutes, or until eggplants are soft.
- Meanwhile prepare couscous filling. Add couscous, lemon juice, vinegar, tomato puree, oregano, smoked paprika and garlic to a bowl, and pour boiling water over them. Stir to separate any clumps, then cover, and set aside for 5-10 minutes.
- Chop scallions and dill, and mince chili pepper. Using a fork fluff couscous, then stir in scallions, dill, chili pepper and tahini. Season with salt and pepper.
- For the cashew drizzle place cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt and pepper to a blender, and blend until completely creamy. Adjust consistency with water (usually I use about 1/3-1/2 cup of water).
- Once eggplants are soft, remove them from the oven and let them cool a bit, so you don’t burn yourself. Slice each eggplant in half lengthwise, making sure eggplant halves remain attached at the top.
- Stuff each eggplant with a large spoonful of the couscous mixture. Drizzle with cashew sauce. Serve immediately or chilled. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Category: Appetizer, Main
- Cuisine: Vegan
Yeap, we thoroughly enjoyed those 5 summer days as well… 🙂 Yesterday for instance was one of them, we had 28 degrees Celsius, today 15… I have to get happy about the coming autumn, at least I will not be dissapointed anymore, it is a way of battling depression 🙂 Lovely eggplants, I wish I could find such little ones around here. And I love that plate, I have been searching for a similar one for some time.
I know what you mean…it’s probably a defence mechanisms from my side too, to love autumn, since I have anyway no other choice (or otherwise I would hate about 350 days a year) 😀
BTW definitely check out the Turkish markets near you. They always have such great produce!
These stuffed eggplants are so pretty and delicious with couscous filling! The cashew drizzle is such a nice touch.
Thank you 🙂
The baby aubergines are so cute and filled with cous-cous they must be delicious. We weather we had in UK was lovely, many sunny days, warm and not too hot. This is the kind of weather I like.
Thanks, Anca! Yes, I love those sunny but not too hot days too….but we never have those 😀
I am so sad summer is almost gone! And no more dinner in day light. That stuffed eggplant sounds really nice. Eggplant is really of my favourite thing to eat but never really stuffed it. Time to try that 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
Actually that’s exactly the only reason I’m sad because summer is over…I love those long days!
Cashew drizzle on everything please
Exactly!
I do love eggplant, and baked ones are my favorite! I’m quite familiar with many stuffing options (couscous again is one of my favorite), but now I need to try stuffed eggplant with this cashew sauce…or maybe with your famous tahini dressing…:) Mmm. Delicious, Evi!
Hahaha, the tahini dressing I put on everything? 😀