Eggplant rice with dill and pine nuts

Ingredients for 8 servings:

• 3 eggplant(s), narrow
• some pepper, black
• 11 tbsp olive oil
• some salt
• 4 pinches of sugar
• 3 onions, diced
• 4 tbsp currants
• 65 g pine nuts
• 1 ½ tsp clove pepper
• 1 pinch(s) nutmeg, freshly grated
• ½ tsp cinnamon powder
• 480 g short grain rice
• some dill

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Rest time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 50 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes

Turkish, vegetarian

Use a vegetable peeler to peel a few thin strips from the eggplants lengthwise to create a striped pattern. Then quarter them lengthwise and cut them crosswise into 2-3 cm thick cubes. Toss the eggplants with 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, pepper, and salt and bake in a preheated oven on a baking sheet lined with baking paper at 225°C (top/bottom heat) for about 25 minutes. Then remove from the oven and sprinkle a little sugar over the warm vegetables. For the rice, heat 5 tablespoons of olive oil in a non-stick pan with a lid. Add the pine nuts, onion, and currants and sweat. Stir in the spices and cook over low to medium heat. Add the washed rice and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add ⅔ of the eggplants and top up with 750 ml of boiling water. Bring to a boil briefly, then simmer gently over low heat with the lid on for about 15-20 minutes. Remove the rice from the heat, stir, and tuck a kitchen towel under the lid. Let everything rest for 10-15 minutes. The kitchen towel will absorb any remaining moisture from the rice. Then pour 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over the rice and stir again. Garnish with the remaining eggplant and dill and serve warm or cold.