A magical seductive sauce to eat with almost anything
Aubergine Caviar Bolognese is a delicious alternative to classic meat-based bolognese sauce. Aubergines are oven-roasted to perfection, the flesh scrapped out and blended into a rich tomato sauce spiced with cumin, coriander, sumac and chilli. A helping of flaked almonds is blended through at the end to give this glossy sauce a pleasing texture and crunch.
Roasting Aubergines
When aubergines are roasted in the oven the flesh becomes plump, juicy and almost creamy. The results are very different to the texture achieved from frying aubergine, and this soft juicy flesh provides the perfect base for blending with other vegetables, spices or sauces such as tomato sauce, hummus or yoghurt.
Why is it called Aubergine Caviar?
The word ‘caviar’ is a term created in the 60s referring to the technique as mentioned above of whole roasted aubergines in which the soft juicy flesh is removed and originally whipped with, garlic, lemon and oil, creating a delicious creamy dip or sauce. Attaching the word ‘caviar’ to the recipe was a way to make the vegetable dip appear more fancy and desirable.
How to eat Aubergine Caviar Bolognese
Serve this delicious sauce with pasta (such as this Spicy Aubergine Caviar Pasta pictured below) alongside rice, with grilled vegetables, fish, chicken, beef or lamb. Spread onto toast or serve with bread and cheese. You could also treat it like a shakshuka and crack some eggs into it.
Like this recipe? Then you might also like these related recipes on flaevor.com
Aubergine Caviar Bolognese
A delicious alternative to classic meat-based bolognese sauces using a base of aubergine and tomato, cumin, coriander, chilli, sumac and almonds
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Cook Time: 50 Minutes
- Total Time: 1 Hour
- Yield: 4 – 6 1x
- Category: Vegetarian
- Method: Oven Roasting & Stove Top Cooking
- Cuisine: Modern Fusion
Ingredients
- 2 large aubergines
- 1 red onion, chopped fine
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp dried chilli flakes
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp sumac
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tin whole tomatoes
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tsp raw sugar
- 150ml vegetable or chicken stock
- Salt and pepper
- Olive oil
- 4 heaped tbsp flaked almonds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut the ends off each aubergine, then cut in half lengthways. Pierce the flesh a few times with a knife then rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 40 – 45 minutes or until flesh is browned, collapsed, and very soft.
- Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat and fry onions, garlic along with a good pinch of salt until soft. Add cumin, coriander and chilli flakes, and cook gently for 1 minute. Make sure onions and spices don’t dry out. Add a splash of oil if needed.
- Next, add tinned tomatoes, stock, vinegar, sugar and sumac, bring to a boil, then cover and turn to simmer for 20 minutes.
- When aubergines are ready, remove from the oven and let them cool for 5 minutes. Using a spoon, scrape out the flesh from the aubergine casing. Chop with a large knife until almost like a mash / puree.
- To finish the sauce: add the mashed aubergine to the tomato sauce. Bring to a boil again then cover and turn to simmer for 10 more minutes.
- Remove pan from heat, add a squeeze of lemon juice, a very generous pouring of olive oil and finally stir through flaked almonds. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. The sauce should be thick and glossy.
Keywords: aubergine sauce, aubergine recipes, aubergine and tomato, spiced aubergine
