This recipe did not go down well with my family. Neither of my parents are aubergine fans. Yet somehow I decided to make this recipe.

They were all excited when they saw it baking, but as soon as they cut into it and had a piece they were moaning and groaning…. Not aubergine… they don’t like it.

They ate, well I kind of force fed it to them, because I never made anything to go with it. It was either eat this or starve till tomorrow morning breakfast time.

Of course finding the pastry was a mission all on its own. I kept looking for filo pastry as per Mary Berry’s recipe, but here in SA we smell it differently and well I used the British smelling and it was like trying to find a needle in a hay stack.

When realisation finally hit home that I was a dummy for not seeing the obvious in the spelling I finally managed to get my hands on a roll of phyllo pastry. Apparently you can make homemade phyllo pastry… I just the store bought one, it seemed easier than the complicated recipe I came across on the internet.

I myself actually liked this recipe and the fact that this recipe came out exactly like it should, really really impressed me.

Ingredients:

• 2 x tbsp. oil.
• 1 x onion, finely chopped.
• 2 x tbsp. masala.
• 2 x eggplants, cut into cubes.
• 2 x red peppers, finely diced.
• Salt and black pepper to season.
• 1 x cup red lentils.
• 250g x swiss cheese, grated.
• A roll of phyllo pastry.
• Melted butter.

Method:

• Boil lentils till soft, drain and set aside.
• Heat the oil in a pot.
• Add the onions and saute till transparent.
• Add the egg plant , spices and peppers and cook till the peppers are soft.
• Add in the lentils, season well and mix.
• Cook till the mixture is dry and mix in the grated cheese.

To assembly this dish.

• Layer about 4 phyllo pastry sheets in the bottom of a spring form loose bottom round cake tin.
• Brush some melted butter between each layer.
• Add the filling and place the remaining pastry ontop of the filling, again, brushing each layer with some melted butter.
• Finally brush the remaining butter over the top of the pastry and trim off any excess pastry that might be overlapping over the tin.
• Pop into a preheated oven and bake at 180 degrees for 40 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.