For this blinding springtime bellyfiller, you will need:
an aubergine
2 small courgettes, or a big one
3 ripe red tomatoes
a handful of raisins
a handful of raisins
a handful of flaked almonds
a sprig of mint
2 pinches of garam masala
1 pinch of cinnamon
a block of salty feta
some nice olive oil
about 170g cous-cous
Slice your aubergine into centimetre-thick circles. Heat up a glurg of olive oil in a griddle and get the pan pretty hot. Whack on your aubergine and blast it while you have at the courgettes with a potato peeler, skimming off thin strips until you have a pile of green-edged creamy ribbons. Turn your aubergine - you want dark brown marks from the ridges of the griddle, and add a glurg more olive oil. The flesh of the aubergine drinks up the oil like an alcoholic downing a fresh pint, so use nice stuff and you shall be rewarded.
Whene they're done, put them aside to cool a bit and do pretty much the same with the courgette ribbons. When they're done the aubergine will be cool enough to cut into inch thin strips. Don't bother cutting up the courgettes, they're better like that.
Put your cous-cous in a bowl, add about 200 ml of boiling water, stir well, then cover and leave for a few minutes. Add the garam masala, the cinnamon and the raisins.
Add the griddled veg to the cous-cous and mix it all in. Now toast the almonds in a dry frying pan until they go golden, take care not to burn them, and add them to the mix.
Chop up the tomatoes small as you can really, fine dice, then chuck them in. Finely chop the mint (just a small sprig mind) and mix that in. Chop up the block of feta into small cubes or just crumble it in.
Salt and pepper, leave to cool or eat warm. You can add more olive oil, or a bit of salad dressing if you fancy. I had a big plate of the stuff with a ginger beer just now and it did me the world of good. The creamy salty feta, crunchy nuts, sweet raisins, olive oily aubergine and fragrant spices make it a really interesting mouthful and damn moreish. I'll be finishing it off for lunch at work this week.
