aubergine & halloumi bake

first things first: i am not going to become a food blogger. however, i am horrifically burdened with mental paralysis, and putting up some of my favourite meals is the easiest way to force myself to post on here.

i also have no other system for writing down my recipes, so this will mean i stop forgetting important ingredients when i'm shopping or cooking.

finally, i also started a daggerheart campaign recently. my gm is using the beast feast campaign framing, which for non-daggerheart-enjoyers, is essentially high fantasy dungeon meshi. we have a little physical recipe book, which also inspired me to do this!

Warning

in true homecook philosophy, i measure with my heart & soul. any measurements i provide are rough estimates

ingredients:

• x1 aubergine
• x1 block of halloumi
• paprika
• cumin
• ground coriander
• harissa
• olive oil
• x1 can chopped tomatoes
• almonds
• couscous
• x1 vegetable stock cube
• sultanas

making the bake:

1. into a small-ish deep oven baking dish, pour in your can of chopped tomatoes. tip in a handful of almonds, and stir to distribute.
2. sprinkle the paprika, cumin, and coriander on top of the tomatoes. i typically use only a little bit of each, as most of the flavour comes from the olive oil & the harissa.
3. to the side, slice an aubergine. i keep them as whole circles, about a centimetre thick.
4. get a frying pan, and a lot of olive oil. heat up the oil until it's around as thick as water.
5. carefully place the aubergine in the pan to fry. make sure it's on a high heat. the aubergine slices will initially suck up the oil, so feel free to liberally add more. as the slices cook and brown, oil will return to the pan, so keep an eye on this.
6. once the aubergine slices are browned, move them to the baking dish, placing them flat on top of the tomatoes. i normally cook mine so they're really soft and mushy, but you can brown them a bit less to keep them chewy.
7. chop up the halloumi into slices and place them atop the fried aubergine.
8. pour some harissa on top of the bake, trying to get it as even as you can. i measure this with both my heart and my spice tolerance.
9. bake in an 180c oven for around 15min.

Note

you can also fry & brown the halloumi, but i normally don't (mainly to save time!)

making the couscous:

1. boil a kettle.
2. put your stock cube in a large bowl.
3. pour the boiling water over the stock cube, allowing it to dissolve.
4. pour in your couscous. the water should fully cover the couscous.
5. put in a handful of sultanas, and stir to make sure they're roughly distributed.

enjoy!!!! if anyone does actually cook this, please let me know :D