Barbecued eggplant steaks with feta & minted cucumber

80ml white wine vinegar
60g (4 tablespoons) sugar
1⁄8 teaspoon chilli powder (or to taste)
1 small handful fresh mint leaves
1 telegraph cucumber, peeled, seeded and sliced into ribbons using a potato peeler
2 large eggplants, cut lengthwise to yield 6 x 1.5cm thick steaks
90ml olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons dukkah (store-bought or make the version below)
150g feta (I use Zany Zeus)

Bring the vinegar, sugar and chilli to the boil in a small saucepan and set aside to cool completely.

Just before serving, blitz the mint and vinegar mixture in a blender. Pour the mint syrup over the cucumber strips and set aside.

Brush both sides of the eggplant steaks with olive oil. Grill each side for 5-7 minutes. You are looking for an appetising colour on the outside and a silky interior. It may be necessary to move the slices to cooler or hotter parts of your barbecue to achieve this.

Remove the eggplant to a serving platter and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle evenly with dukkah and crumble the feta over.

Serve the eggplant topped with the drained cucumber slices. This is also great served alongside barbecued red capsicum.


Mark’s Dukkah
5 tablespoons spicy broad beans (I use Savour, available at Moore Wilson, Wellington, or substitute roasted and peeled hazelnuts)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
few drops olive oil
1@1⁄2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1@1⁄2 tablespoons fennel seeds
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place the beans in a clean tea towel or between sheets of baking paper and crush them with a rolling pin to crumbs. Set aside.

Place the sesame seeds in a frying pan with 1-2 drops of olive oil and fry, stirring constantly, just until fragrant. Set aside.

Place the cumin seeds in a frying pan with 1-2 drops of olive oil and fry, stirring constantly, until just fragrant then place in an electric coffee grinder or mortar and coarsely grind to about the size of whole sesame seeds. Repeat with the coriander and fennel.

Combine the ingredients, season with salt and pepper, and store in an airtight container. After a few days a mix can be rejuvenated by tossing in a frying pan or flashing in a hot oven briefly. Be careful not to burn the spices at any stage.