Brinjal Bhaji with Herb Flatbread

This warm and aromatic Brinjal Bhaji is rich in aubergines and spices. Serving it with these delicious and easy-to-make Herb Flatbreads makes a super supper. 

This recipe is adaptable as, apart from the aubergine, which is needed to create this thick sauce, you could sub in different beans, peas or pulses and any vegetables you have to use up. You could roast cauliflower or butternut squash alongside the carrots, for example. You could also boost the protein in this with some pan-fried quorn chunks or roasted tofu, should you wish. 

I had seen many flatbread recipes on Pinterest and then this week watched Jamie Oliver make them on his new show so thought I'd give them a go. I've tweaked those recipes to make it SW / SP friendly and added the fresh herbs to build some further nutrients into the dish and ensure they had a good, fresh flavour. As I've used quark, I advise caution (as per the recipe) in terms of adding it to the dough mix. I've found different brands of quark (and even how long the tub has been open) can impact on the moisture it contains. Avoid the mistake I made initially of being over-generous with the quark as you'll end up needing more flour to make it dry enough to be workable and therefore the syn-count goes up accordingly. 

I've served this with a basic cucumber raita - made here with quark to make it SP friendly. I finely chopped some cucumber and added a grind of salt and left it for 45 mins in the fridge to draw out the liquid. I added 2 tbsp of quark, 2 tsp of mint sauce and as much lemon juice as needed to make a smooth, creamy sauce. 

The flatbread works out at 3 syns per portion, which is due to the flour required. However, this is pretty favourable when compared to naan bread (6.5 syns even for a mini naan) or chapattis (usually around 6.5 syns each). As a bread-fiend, I found this alternative satisfied my urge for something to mop up this delicious sauce with. However, you could alternatively use one of the Weight Watchers wraps that can count as one of your HEB allowances, if you prefer to make this free from syn count. 

As with all recipes and meal plans on the blog I have highlighted the protein sources (P foods) in red, the speed (S) foods in green, healthy extra allowances in blue and syns, with syn values in brackets in orange. 

Brinjal Bhaji with Herb Flatbread

Serves 2 - 3 syns per flatbread, bhaji syn-free

1 aubergine, cut into chunks about 2cm sq

1 onion

5 carrots, cut into thick chunks

1 courgette, chopped into small chunks

1 red pepper, chopped into small chunks

1 red chilli, finely chopped

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

A thumb of ginger 

8 cherry tomatoes 

1 tin of chickpeas

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp asofoetida 

2 tsp mild curry powder

5 dried curry leaves

1 tbsp tomato puree 

Boiling water

3 tbsp self-raising flour (6 syns) 

2 handfuls of fresh parsley and chives

2 tbsp quark

Spray oil 

Heat an oven to 180 degrees fan / 200 degrees electric / Gas Mark 6.

Spray an oven-proof tray with spray oil and lay the chunks of carrot across it. Place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes - you want them to be toasted and slightly softened but still with a firm bite. 

In a large pan, spray with oil and heat before adding the onion, pepper and courgette and fry for 5 minutes.

Grate the ginger directly into the pan and add the garlic, chopped chilli and fry for 3 minutes.

Add the cumin seeds, garam masala, asofoetida, curry powder and curry leaves with a good splash of water and cook for 5 mins - adding further water if it starts to catch. It is important that you cook this on a high heat before moving on to avoid the spices tasting raw and bitter in the final dish. 

Add the cubes of aubergine and coat thoroughly with the paste in the pan and cook for 5 minutes. 

Empty the whole tin of chickpeas into the pan - water and all (the starch from the chickpeas that has leached into the water in the tin will help thicken the sauce). 

Bring to the boil and then leave on bubbling simmer for 15-20 mins, allowing the aubergine to fully break down and dissolve into the sauce. 

Whilst this is simmering (and the carrots are still roasting in the oven) make the flatbread dough. 

Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the finely chopped herbs to the mix, before stirring. 

Add 1 tbsp of the quark and mix carefully, combining the quark and noting the consistency. You are looking for all flour to be included but you need to avoid it becoming too sticky. The mix is likely to still be very dry at this point, so add a further level tbsp of quark and mix well, checking again the consistency. 

Once you've mixed it to a soft but not sticky dough, take this out of the bowl and on a sheet of greaseproof paper (to avoid extra flour) split in half and roll each half out to a long flat shape, about the thickness of a pound coin. 

Spray oil into a non-stick frying pan and let it heat up considerably. You may need to re-apply spray oil between each flatbread so only use 5 or 6 sprays to avoid accidentally adding too much fat.  

Lay the flatbreads onto the pan one at a time. Keep an eye on it and after 2-3 minutes, you should see bubbles starting to form in the dough. If you are really lucky it will start to puff up excitingly! 

You are looking to ensure that each side is toasted brown and actually let it catch slightly - the charred bits help make it super tasty! 

Flip the flatbreads over until they are fully toasted on both sides and solid enough to flip over easily. 

Put the flatbreads on to one side once cooked - they can be kept warm in the oven wrapped in foil if they are ready too far ahead of everything else.

Slit each of the cherry tomatoes down one side or halve them if this is easier. 

Once the aubergine has totally cooked down in the curry pan, stir in the tomato puree and cherry tomatoes. blend in to create a thickened sauce, turn down very low and simmer for a further 5 minutes. Stir regularly to ensure it doesn't catch.

Take the carrots from the oven and stir in to the curry before serving. 

Serve with quark-based raita and salad.