This mouthwatering dish includes Australian native ingredients and is the perfect option when looking to create a restaurant quality vegetarian meal.
Ingredients
1 roast eggplant
¼ cup cooked Jasmine rice (or your preferred rice), warmed through to serve
1 heaped teaspoon macadamia pieces, roasted and salted
1 heaped teaspoon native currants (or regular currants)
1 heaped teaspoon muntries* (omit if not available)
1 heaped teaspoon sunflower seeds
Squeeze of lemon juice
Splash of olive oil
Sea salt to taste
Macadamia cream
50g Macadamia spread/butter
50g warm water
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
To serve
50g karkalla**
Fresh coriander, dill, mint, sea parsley (or any parsley)
Method
Heat a fry pan with olive oil and bring to a high heat. Place the eggplant, score side down, in the pan and cook until caramelised. Then place the eggplant in a hot oven and cook through (8-10 minutes) until soft and tender.
Carefully scrape the cooked eggplant flesh into a bowl, draining away any excess moisture. Stir through the rice, macadamias, currants, muntries and sunflower seeds. Season with lemon juice and olive oil. Taste and add salt as required.
Prepare the macadamia cream by blending all ingredients together in a food processor until smooth.
To serve, dress the plate with macadamia cream. Return eggplant mixture to eggplant skin and dress liberally with fresh herbs and native succulents. Serve immediately.Notes
*Muntries are small white native fruits, reminiscent of blueberries. The Australian Native Food Industry Food Limited describes the fruit as tasting like “apple with a juniper essence, a spicy apple taste”.
**Karkalla is a native succulent also known as pigface. It grows among sand dunes and on cliff faces around the Australian coastline. It is light and salty with a juicy crunch. Cultivated karkalla can be found at farmers markets and select greengrocers.
