The protein cooking time listed in this recipe has been updated.
As of December 2025, we’ve revised cooking times for all our proteins to reflect improved food safety guidance.
Check out the latest recommended times in our Cooking Guidelines.
Vegan Middle-Eastern Style Sunflower Mince Stuffed Aubergines
Bring the sunshine to your plate with this Middle Eastern Style dish, made vegan. Simmer sunflower mince in a rich and aromatic tomato sauce. Then stuff your aubergines and roast until perfection. Serve with a fresh chickpea salad
1/3 daily fibre
5 of 5 a day
Low sat fat
Serving size
Ingredients
- 20g pine nuts
- 80g rocket
- 230g chickpeas (Chickpeas, water, salt)
- 400g passata (tomatoes, salt, citric acid)
- 1 tbsp Middle Eastern spice mix (galangal, cinnamon, ginger, pimento, cardamom, kalonji seeds, lavender flower, coriander, cassia, cumin, mace, nutmeg, clove, black pepper, chilli powder)
- 80g coconut yoghurt (Organic Coconut Milk (98%) (Organic Coconut, Filtered Water), Thickener: Organic Tapioca Starch, Live Vegan Cultures)
- 200g baby tomatoes
- 72g sunflower mince (Sunflower mince)
- 1 unwaxed lemon
- 2 onion
- 2 tbsp sundried tomato paste (Tomato Puree, Sundried Tomatoes, Rapeseed Oil, Water, Pine Kernels, Salt)
- 4 garlic clove
- 2 aubergine
Nutritional Information
Calories: 467
Protein: 20g
Carbs: 25g
Fat: 27g
Vegan Middle-Eastern Style Sunflower Mince Stuffed Aubergines
Bring the sunshine to your plate with this Middle Eastern Style dish, made vegan. Simmer sunflower mince in a rich and aromatic tomato sauce. Then stuff your aubergines and roast until perfection. Serve with a fresh chickpea salad
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Cooking Instructions
Before you start
- Preheat the oven to 240C / fan 220C / gas mark 9
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper
- Pull out a large frying pan, a measuring jug, a medium bowl, a small bowl & a sieve
Roast the aubergines
- Place the sunflower mince in the medium bowl and cover with cold water. Leave for 10 mins, then drain
- Halve the aubergines lengthways and cut a criss-cross pattern into the flesh (careful not to cut through to the skin)
- Place onto the other lined baking tray (flesh-side down), drizzle with 1 tbsp oil and season with salt. Roast for 20 mins
Prep the veg and get the salad started
- Halve the tomatoes. Thinly slice the onion and garlic. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Zest and halve the lemon
- Wipe out the sunflower mince bowl and combine the tomatoes and one quarter of the onion with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper
Make the stew
- Heat the large frying pan with 1 tbsp oil over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the sunflower mince, onion and garlic to the pan and cook for 4-5 mins, until the veg is soft
- Add the sundried tomato paste, middle eastern spice blend, passata and 100ml water. Simmer for 4-5 mins, until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper
Top the aubergines
- Once the aubergines have roasted for 20 mins, flip them over and carefully flatten the scored flesh with the back of a fork
- Evenly distribute the sunflower mince mixture across each aubergine half. Return to the oven and roast for a final 10 mins
Make the min yoghurt & plate up
- Mix the lemon zest through the with the yoghurt and 1 tsp oil in the small bowl. Season with salt and pepper
- Toss the rocket and chickpeas through the pickled onion mix
- Serve the stuffed aubergines alongside the salad and drizzle over the lemon yoghurt
- Garnish with the remaining lemon, cut into wedges
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