Harissa aubergine with lamb meatballs

Another carb free day for me. This harissa aubergine from the oven is super tasty and the lamb 'meatballs' are a nice and hardy addition. You could always add rice or bread to this dish, but I just finished the whole thing as is.

If you would make this for 2 people with carbs, I'd add extra meat and serve 1 aubergine per person.

The recipe is for the quantity as you see on the photo.

Ingredients:

• 200 gram ground lamb • 3 garlic cloves • ½ tsp onion powder • ½ tsp cumin powder • ½ tsp coriander powder • 1 tsp oregano • ½ tsp dried mint • 1 tsp paprika • ½ tsp cinnamon • salt and pepper • 1 tbsp oil •

• 2 aubergines • 2 tbsp harass • 1 tsp chilli flakes • 1 tsp garlic powder • oil • salt and pepper • sesame paste • sesame seeds • pomegranate seeds •

1. Pre-heat your oven at 200 °C. Slice the aubergine lengthwise, but leave the slices attached to the top so they can fan out.

2. Mix the harissa, chilli flakes, garlic powder and salt and pepper and pit the mixture in between the aubergine slices. Put them in a baking tray, add extra oil on top and grill for 45 minutes. Turn around halfway.

3. Get the ground lamb (you can also use beef) and mix in all the ingredients from the top list. Mix well and make even sized patties. I ended up with 5, but one more or less is fine too.

4. Fry the patties in a pan with some oil. Do this about 10 minutes before the aubergine is done.

5. Once everything is cooked, put everything on a nice plate and add the sesame paste, sesame seeds and pomegranate seeds. I added some avocado and spring onion, but it's also lovely to add lemons, white cheese or coriander.

Serve as is or over rice or bread.

Be careful with the salt. You might want to taste your brand of harissa before adding too much salt. You can always add more when everything is cooked, but you can't take it out!

Enjoy!