July Recipes: Smoked Aubergine Koftas & Tabbouleh
- Felicity Vincent
- Jul 19, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 1, 2024
A healthy bbq idea: vegan koftas made from smoky aubergines with a vibrant tabbouleh salad recipe.
Koftas that are crispy on the outside and full of savoury flavour, perfect pairing for the fresh and zesty tabbouleh salad. The perfect summer bbq meal (although you can make it in the oven too).
This tabbouleh salad is a great one to have in your arsenal. Make a big batch to eat for lunches throughout the week. I've paired it with an aubergine kofta for extra textures and flavour as part of a bbq spread. I don't think anyone has done these aubergine koftas before (although I may be wrong), they are inspired by italian aubergine balls, think of a smoky baba ganoush thickened with bread crumbs and grilled on the bbq. And the whole meal just happens to be vegan!
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Ingredients (serves 2):
Vegan kofta recipe:
2 aubergines
3 tsp harissa
2 tsp ras-el-hanout
1 Tbs tahini
1 tsp dijon mustard
70g breadcrumbs
s&p
Tabbouleh salad recipe:
240g dried bulgur wheat
200g cucumber
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
1 red chilli
1/2 red onion
2 lemons, juice and zest
2 Tbs EVOO
15g mint
30g parsley
s&p
Optional: a bit of yogurt or hummus to serve.
Method:
How to make tabbouleh salad:
Add the bulgur wheat to a bowl and cover with double the volume of cold water, leave to stand while you make the rest of the salad.
Dice the cucumber, peppers and red onion as small as possible. Then do the same with the chili but make sure to taste it first to adjust heat to personal taste and see if seeds should be included or not. I added the whole chilli, but only a few seeds.
Place the red onion in a large bowl with the lemon zest, lemon juice and salt. Stir and leave to sit for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, roughly chop the herbs.
Drain the bulgur wheat, add to the large bowl along with the diced up vegetables, herbs, EVOO, salt and pepper.
Stir and taste to adjust seasoning as needed.
How to make the aubergine koftas:
Prick the aubergines' skin all over with a fork. Burn the skin on an open flame such as bbq coals or a gas hob, or cover in oil and aluminium foil and bake in the oven at 200°C for an hour. The aim is for the skin to be charred all over. Leave them to cool down then peel the skin off.
Roughly chop the aubergine flesh on a board then transfer to a mixing bowl and add all the other kofta ingredients. Mix until combined and taste to make sure it doesn't need more salt. Leave to stand for 5-10 mins to let the breadcrumbs absorb more moisture.
If you have wooden skewers, make sure to leave them to soak in water for 30 mins before using. Wet your hands slightly and wrap the kofta mix around the skewers. If you don't have skewers then form the mixture into little sausage-like koftas.
Cook the koftas until they are browned on all sides. Either on the bbq, under the grill, in a hot pan or in the oven on an oiled tray at 200°C.
Serve hot with the tabbouleh salad and, if you have it, a bit of yogurt or hummus. B on appétit!
More about this aubergine recipe:
Recipe shortcuts:
I love an excuse to use the green peppers that often get left behind in variety packs. It brings a lovely green freshness and grassiness to the salad but you can of course swap it out for red or yellow pepper if you don't have a green one.
Use any herbs you have, the salad will be delicious with dill or coriander too.
You can also chop the veg up roughly if you don't have time to dice them all, it will still be nice.
Keys to success:
Make sure to add enough breadcrumbs to the kofta mix to enable forming. If you let the mixture stand for 5-10mins this will allow the breadcrumbs time to soak up more moisture too, rather than adding too many in, which would dry out the final koftas' mouthfeel.
Health benefits of aubergine:
They're a good source of:
biotin which enables us to release energy from food and supports cell health;
manganese which also enables us to release energy from food and supports cell health;
soluble fibre which helps lower blood cholesterol, and slows the release of energy from food. It also helps bulk stools with water and serves as a prebiotic, meaning it feeds our gut bacteria for a healthy microbiome.
insoluble fibre - helps to make you feel full, and soften stools for better digestive health. It is also associated with phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties.
Anthocyanins such as delphinidin and nasunin are found in the skin, imparting a purple colour, while polyphenols such as chlorogenic acid are found in the flesh.
All of these have antioxidant properties which have been shown to reduce the risk of certain types of cancers, cardiovascular diseases and physical signs of ageing.
In addition to this, they inhibit alpha-amylase and alpha-glucosidase therefore lowering uptake of glucose into the blood. And they may also reduce the digestion of fat through pancreatic lipases, helping with weight management.
Nasunin in particular was shown not only to reduce the chances of cardiovascular diseases, but also reduce the oxidative damage to osteoblasts, therefore improving ageing bone health. It also in particular was found to protect the fat barrier of brain cells, therefore playing an important role in brain health and preventing neuro-degeneration.
Mood Food - Calm:
Delphinidin (a type of anthocyanin)- reduces ACE (angiotensin converting enzyme) expression and therefore lowers blood pressure, especially potent in white/graffiti aubergines;
Nasunin (a derivative of delphinidin)- activates nitric oxide to dilate blood vessels and therefore lower blood pressure;
Prebiotic polyphenols - among other benefits, our microbiome convert them to tryptophan (precursor to the good mood hormone serotonin).
Hopefully this makes you excited to try this and many other aubergine recipes during its season!
You can find lots of ideas on how to cook with aubergine in my newsletter: https://felicityvincent.substack.com/
Full Video:
Cook along with this step-by-step video and learn how to make my vegan aubergine koftas and tabbouleh salad recipe.
Photos:
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