Moe and Rosanne's Individual Stuffed Eggplants

By bunny

Ingredients

• 4 small eggplants (about 2 by 4 inches)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp black pepper
• pinch cinnamon
• 2 onions finely diced
• 1 green pepper cut into thin strips
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tsp oregano dried
• 4 tbsp currants or raisins
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 2 tomatos, sliced
• Few sprigs of fresh parsley, chopped

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400F (210C)
Baking sheet greased lightly with vegetable oil.

1. Partially sliced the eggplants lengthwise, without separating them, so they fan open, butterfly-style, skin-side down. Salt the flesh and let stand 10 minutes. Rinse them and pat dry.
2. In a large frying pan, heat vegetable oil over high heat until it's just about to smoke. Add the eggplants, flesh side down - carefully: they'll sputter, so you may want to use a frying screen. Reduce heat to medium-high and fry for 2 minutes, until golden brown. Turn-again, carefully: more splutter-and fry the skin side down for another 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set on paper towels to drain excess oil.
3. Discard any leftover oil from frying pan. Add olive oil and return to medium-high heat. Add black pepper and cinnamon and stir-fry for 30 seconds. Add diced onions and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes until onion wilts. Add green pepper strips and stir-fry for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium and add minced garlic, oregano and currants. Stir-fry for 2 minutes and remove from heat.
4. Spread the fried eggplants, skin-side down on baking sheet. Sprinkle the pine nuts evenly over the eggplants. Top evenly with fried onion mixture and then the tomato slices. (This recipe can now wait for up to 1 hour, uncovered).
5. Bake the stuffed eggplants for 20-25 minutes until the tomatoes have baked down and everything looks shiny. Remove from oven and life the eggplants carefully to avoid breaking them onto a serving platter. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve.
Makes 4 portions approx.