Honey and Harissa Glazed Eggplant

I picked half a dozen nice sized eggplants from the garden today. The variety I'm growing is mini-Lebanese so these were all about 12-15cms long and about 3-4 cm in diameter.

Awhile back I had gone searching for eggplant recipes and amongst the hundreds of "interesting" ones found I had located one for Honey and Harissa Glazed Eggplant.

Mum gave me a jar of Jalapeno harissa about a month back so I had been looking forward to trying it in the recipe. Here's the original recipe with my comments in purple.

Honey and Harissa Glazed Eggplant
serves 3-4 as a side dish

Ingredients
750g eggplant (about 2 medium-large), peeled Didn't weigh the eggplants just used what I picked
50ml extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1 tablespoon for frying
3 small cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tblsp finely chopped fresh ginger Didn't have fresh so used about 1 1/2 tsp dried
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp harissa paste Used 2 generous tsps of the Jalapeno one I had
1/4 cup (60 ml) honey
2 tsp tomato paste Used a bit more of the paste - probably about 3-4 tsps
2 tblsp lemon juice
1 tsp sea salt

Method
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Line a large oven tray with baking paper.
2. Halve each eggplant crosswise then slice each half into 6-8 wedges. Place the wedges into the baking tray and drizzle with 50ml of olive oil. Coat the wedges thoroughly in oil, then spread them out in a single layer. Roast the wedges in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until they are deep golden, turning them halfway through the cooking time. I used a "turbo cook" to roast them in worked fine. Next time I'll coat them by putting the oil in a plastic bag and shaking them in there rather than the 'drizzling' method.
3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a large frying pan over low heat. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Then stir in the cumin, cinnamon, harissa, honey, tomato paste, lemon juice and salt. Cook until the mixture starts to boil, then turn off the heat.
4. Remove the eggplant from the oven and carefully place into the honey mixture. Cook in a single layer for 8 minutes, turning once. Be careful, as the honey may start to burn.
5. When the eggplant is cooked, season to taste with extra lemon juice and salt, if needed. Then put them into a shallow serving dish, and spoon over any remaining honey glaze. The eggplant can be served warm or at room temperature. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for a day or so; just reheat in the microwave for 40 seconds (it tastes even better then). I'll be trying the leftovers tomorrow :)

Recipe adapted from delicious (June 2010)

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I'll certainly be making this again. I think it would work great as a side dish for a roast.

PS Miss 9 and me also made a roast cauliflower soup that Miss 7 devoured (even with a chili in there) and Miss 9 also created her own seasoning for fried eggplant along with a tomato based sauce. Very yummy!