Baked Aubergine with Lentil Salad, Creamy Hummus & Roast Tomatoes
Inspired by Spanish tapas, this salad takes all the best parts and combines them into a complete meal that’s just as deliciously hot as it is cold.
This is a dish I have eaten countless times in my life. It’s served in a tapas bar in Barcelona that has a fantastic atmosphere and even better food.
I’ve taken the inspiration from those wonderful memories to create a dish that combines all of those delicious flavours: earthy lentils, fresh herbs, seasonal vegetables and a lovely spiced harissa dressing.
Combining both the salad, hummus and dressing with one of my absolute favourite dishes – my baked aubergine, which has super soft flesh that works perfectly alongside the juicy burst tomatoes that just soak into all the scored groves.
Lentils can be a little time-consuming to cook, so to make this dish a mid-week favourite, you can swap the lentils for pre-cooked ones. They work just as well, and save you both time and extra washing up!
Love Niki xxx
Ingredients
For the aubergines and tomatoes
- 2 aubergines sliced into half lengthwise and scored
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 big handfuls of cherry tomatoes
- Big pinch of sea salt
For the salad
- 200 g green lentils rinsed
- 750 ml vegetable stock
- 1 red onion chopped finely
- Handful of cherry tomatoes chopped
- 1 red pepper chopped finely
- 50 g walnuts toasted and slightly crushed
- Big handful of mint chopped
- Big handful of coriander chopped
For the dressing
- 1-2 tbsp harissa
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 lemon juice
- 1 tsp of sea salt
For the hummus
- 1 can chickpeas drained reserve 2 tbsp for topping
- Juice 1/2 lemon
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Pinch of cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp of sea salt
- Water if needed
- Pinch of chilli flakes
Instructions
To make the aubergines and tomatoes
- Pre-heat the oven to 180c.
- Score the aubergines and place in a large baking tray with the tomatoes. Cover with oil and season well.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top of the aubergines are cooked through and the tomatoes are bursting. Set aside.
To make the lentils
- Add the lentils and stock to a large saucepan.
- Simmer for 25 -35 minutes, stirring occasionally until tender. Add more water if needed.
- Drain and set aside to cool.
- Add all the dressing ingredients to a jar, and shake to combine.
- In a large bowl, mix all the salad ingredients with the lentils.
- Pour the dressing over the lentil mix and stir to combine.
To make the hummus
- Add all the ingredients to a food processor or high-speed blender and blitz for 2-3 minutes until smooth.
To assemble
- Top the aubergines with lots of creamy hummus, pile on the lentil salad and finish with cherry tomatoes.
10 Responses
Absolutely loved making this recipe! Aubergines are my favourite vegetable and I’m always looking to make it different ways.
This recipe had an interesting combination – lentils salad + hummus + aubergines and is a winner!
I did make a couple of tweaks – sprinkled some zaatar & sumac on the aubergines while they were cooking. Also added the spices to the lentil salad.
And drizzled some promergranate molasses when I assembled the dish.
The result… amazing!
Definitely making it again.
So happy you liked!
Love, Niki xxx
This was honestly so delicious! I swapped the lentils for black turtle beans as that was all I had but the recipe worked great with them too. I’m always trying to figure out how to cook aubergine in creative ways and this was deffo a winner sp thank you!
So happy you liked it Kait!
xxx
This recipe changed my life! It is sublime.
Finished mine then greedily watched while my daughter enjoyed hers!
I shall be buying more aubergines from here on out.
Fantastic!
So happy to hear xxx
Sounds great. Could you prepare the hummus and lentil salad a day before?
Yes absolutely! would work really well.
Much love, Niki xxx
This was epic – our first day on a plant-based diet and if all the food is like this we’ll be able to stick to it no worries!!! Thanks for the awesome recipe and wonderful ideas, I’m coming back for the cookbook 🙂
Hi Shannon
Fantastic news! Well I hope theres some ideas here (and in my cookbook ;)) for you!
Much love, Niki xxx