Middle Eastern Aubergine Casserole

This dish goes fantastically well with the Tabouleh I posted earlier.

I've used low fat ingredients to make it a Weightwatchers friendly recipe, but as always feel free to chop and change anything to your liking.

Ingredients:

250g diced lean Beef

1 large Onion, sliced

10 chestnut mushrooms

4 Garlic Cloves, minced

1 tbs Tomato Puree

4 large Tomatoes, sliced 1/2 cm thick

2 Aubergines, cut off the pointy ends, then slice into 1/2 cm thick slices

1 tsp Paprika Powder

1/2 tsp ground Cumin 

1/2 tsp ground Cinnamon 

1 Bayleaf

Salt & Pepper

Beef Stock

Spray the Aubergine slices with cooking spray and griddle on both sides until griddle marks appear and they are softening. This can and should take quite a while

Make the beef stew by frying the beef in a tiny bit of oil until browned, then add the Onion, Mushrooms and seasonings. Fry until the Onions are browned slightly then squeeze in the tomato puree.

Fry a little more then add enough beef stock to cover. Put on a lid and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours until the meat is tender. The pointy bits of Aubergine that were cut of earlier, can be diced and join the pot for the last 10 minutes.

Ladle the Stew into your baking dish ready to be topped decoratively with the Aubergine and Tomato slices. Then place a few Parsley leaves in and around the dish (Jamie style) :-) 

When you're ready place it into a 200C oven for about 40 minutes.