Want to impress your guests with a beautiful dish, that even meat-eaters would enjoy? Try these filled half aubergines. They are baked to perfection and filled with a soy ragout, just like the one you can put on pasta or make lasagna from, and topped with white creamy tahini and some fresh basil leaves.

Ingredients (serves 3):
1 cup soy protein
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 small carrot
handfull of button mushrooms
1 tsp of each: smoked paprika, dried basil, dried thyme
1/2 cup pureed tomatoes
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper

3 medium aubergines
1/4 cup olive oil
salt

Tahini (already mixed with water)
chopped fresh basil

Start with grilling the aubergines. Cut them lengthwise, sprinkle some salt and rub the upper part well with olive oil. Bake in 230 degrees C until the top is golden (around 30 minutes). Remove from the oven, let them cool for a bit and empty the inner part with a spoon to have nice boats.

For the ragout, start with soaking the soy in water, sieving it and pressing all the water out. Finely chop the onion, garlic and carrot, and saute them in olive oil. Once they start to get golden, add the soy, mushrooms (also finely chopped) and spices (besides salt), and mix well. Once the pan is sizzling, add slowly the wine. Bring to boil and let it reduce for a couple of minutes, before adding the tomatoes, balsamic and salt. Mix well and keep reducing the liquids, until you have a thick, almost sticky sauce. Taste and correct levels of saltiness, sweetness and sourness. Different kinds of tomatoes have different sourness levels, sometimes a bit of sugar is needed too.

Now the easy part. Fill the aubergines with ragout. Top with tahini. Bake together in 220 degrees for 10 minutes. Top with chopped basil.