Recipe by Nigella Lawson
“This is a subtly textured, richly flavored arrangement of toasted pieces of flatbread topped with meaty aubergine and beef, a garlicky tahini-yogurt sauce, red pepper flakes, pomegranate seeds, toasted pine nuts and fresh shredded mint. I think of this rather as a refined, Middle-Eastern form of nachos.”
Serves: 4-6
FOR THE BASE:
4 pita breads (split open and cut into nacho-sized triangles)
FOR THE TOPPING:
2 cups full-fat greek yoghurt
5 tbsp tahini (at room temperature)
1 – 2 lemons (to give 3 x 15ml tablespoons of juice)
2 cloves garlic (peeled and minced)
1 – 2 teaspoons kosher salt (to taste)
FOR THE AUBERGINE-BEEF LAYER:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion (peeled and finely chopped)
1 medium-large eggplant (cut into small cubes)
2 tsp ground cumin (I roast mine)
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp Aleppo pepper or paprika (plus more for sprinkling)
1 – 2 tsp kosher salt (to taste)
1lb ground beef
TO SPRINKLE OVER:
¾ cup pomegranate seeds
⅓ cup toasted pinenuts
1 tbsp mint (finely shredded leaves)
Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Spread the pitta triangles out onto a large baking sheet and toast for 10–15 minutes, or until they are crisp. You don’t need them to color, but if they do just a little here and there, that’s not a bad thing. Set the pitta triangles aside for the moment.
Beat the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and 1 teaspoon of kosher salt together in a heatproof bowl that will later sit over a saucepan. Taste to see if you want any more salt. Put to one side while you cook the eggplant-beef layer.
Warm the oil in a wide, though not deep, heavy-based saucepan or casserole and cook the onion, stirring occasionally, over a medium-low heat for 5 minutes, then turn the heat down to low and carry on cooking it, still stirring occasionally, until soft and a pale caramel color. This will take another 4 minutes or so.
Turn the heat up to medium, tumble in the eggplant cubes and stir well to mix with the onion. Stay by the hob as you will need to stir frequently, and cook them for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat down if they look as if they’re catching.
Stir in the cumin, coriander and a teaspoon each of Aleppo pepper and kosher salt and, now over a high heat, add the ground beef and use a fork to break it up a little and turn in the pan until it’s lost its red color.
Turn the heat back down to medium and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the meat is cooked through. Taste to see if you want to add more salt, then take off the heat while you return to the tahini-yogurt sauce.
Pour some just-boiled water into a fresh pan, enough to come about 1¼ inches up the sides, and put over a low heat. Sit the bowl with the tahini-yogurt mixture on top, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Beat well until the yogurt is slightly above room temperature and has the consistency of lightly whipped cream.
Now for the grand assembly: arrange the crisp pitta triangles on a large round plate (I use one of about 12 inches diameter). Top with the eggplant-beef mixture, followed by the yogurt-tahini sauce. Sprinkle with the Aleppo pepper (or paprika, if you’re using that) to give a light dusting. Scatter over the pomegranate seeds and toasted pine nuts and, finally, strew with the finely shredded mint leaves. Eat with your fingers, nacho-style.
MADE AHEAD/STORE:
The pitta can be toasted 1-2 hours ahead. Store in an airtight container. The aubergine-meat layer can be made up to 3 days ahead. Cool and refrigerate, within two hours of cooking, in an airtight container. Return to the pan and add a splash of water, then reheat over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, until piping hot.
FREEZE:
Meat layer can be frozen for up to 3 months in an airtight container. Defrost overnight in the fridge and reheat as above.