Priya’s Keto Baked Eggplant with Lamb Mince

It’s that time of the diet again, when I get bored of food and look for spicy recipes. Happens every two months. The sight of more eggs and cheese makes me lose my appetite. So I am going to shift my focus to veggies. I tried making Keto Baked Eggplant with Lamb Mince today. I had eggplants at home and mince of lamb and mozzarella in the freezer.

Eggplant is a very unique vegetable as it can be made in so many different ways. In primary schools in India children are taught that , aubergines or eggplant or brinjal is the King of vegetables and mangoes are the King of fruits. Although my children show no loyalty to either of them.

This dish was a refreshing change from what I have been eating recently. It is spicy, extremely flavorful and as always not very difficult to make.

Procedure of Making Keto Baked Eggplant

1. Start by preheating your oven for five to ten minutes at 200 degrees Celsius.

2. Wash the aubergines and cut them into half. Right through the stalk. Now make a criss cross pattern on the flesh, but be careful to not to let the knife go through the skin.

3. Place the aubergines on a baking tray and drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil on them. Sprinkle some salt on them.

4. Bake in the oven for 30mins at 250 degrees Celcius. Please ensure that the flesh becomes tender and soft. But do not allow the aubergines to become brown.

5. Place a wok or a non stick pan on the stove and heat the remaining oil in it.

6. Add the chopped onion, red chillies and the spices and fry for five to seven minutes on medium heat.

7. Add the minced lamb, till the lamb changes its colour and becomes a little brownish.

8. Now you can either add a low carb tomato sauce. But I didn’t have any so I added a chopped red tomato at this stage.

9. By now the aubergines should be ready to come out of the oven.

10. Scoop the flesh out of the aubergine halves and ensure that you leave 1cm of flesh inside.

11. You can add this flesh to the lamb and add salt and pepper according to your taste.

12. Now fill the shells with the lamb mixture and sprinkle the mozzarella on top.

13. Take them back to the oven for a final ten to fifteen minutes, until the cheese becomes nice and golden.

Tip: I made two Aubergines today. So my dinner for the next four days is set. You can do the same prep. But roast them one at a time. If you don’t have an oven you can heat a thick bottomed pan  and spray some oil on it. Then follow the same procedure and keep the aubergines on the pan and cover with a lid. Cook on low or medium heat for at least 30 minutes and check that they don’t get burnt. Vegetarians do not despair you can use shredded fresh cottage cheese in place of the mince lamb and reduce the cooking time to half.