One pot d'Aubergine

It’s the final night of the Come Dine With Me week, and you’re hosting. Pâté, fillet of beef and chocolate pudding with ‘homemade’ vanilla icecream has been served three straight nights in a row. Your tastebuds are somewhere between hell and Kentish Town. A purgatory with a Rio's Spa.

Despite this, David, Harinder, and Zoe are currently all tied on 16 out of 30. This means you’re in a for a good shot at winning the £1,000 cash prize, about enough to cover half a month’s rent at your newly refurbished London dungeon and a few rounds at your local Greene King pub.

To win, you'll need to serve up something sophisticated yet simple. Stylish but not grandiose. Complex but so not intricate that it causes your guests to enter a nervous breakdown fearing they've just witnessed The Second Coming of Christ in the form of a one-pot aubergine dish.

Food engineer: James Fotherby

*Feeds 3-4 people. Serve in front of TV crew in 40 mins.

Ingredients:

· 200g of jasmine rice.

· 2 cloves of garlic.

· 2 or 3 bok choy.

· 1 aubergine.

· A handful of shiitake mushrooms.

· 1L of veg stock.

· Sesame oil.

· Chilli flakes.

For the sauce:

· 2 tbsp Light soy sauce.

· 1 tbsp Teriyaki sauce.

· A knob of ginger.

· 1/4 of a bell pepper.

· 1 spring onion.

· Sesami seeds.

Method:

1) Wash your jasmine rice and spread evenly in a roasting tin.

2) Peel the garlic and place in two corners of the tin.

3) Wash and cut up your bok choy, place over the rice so its covered.

4) Slice up your aubergine into 1cm rounds and place in neat rows over the rice and bok choy, and lightly season with salt and pepper.

5) Slowly pour your veg stock over your ingredients, so that the rice is just covered.

6) Chop up your mushrooms and scatter over the top. Also, give a healthy drizzle of sesame oil and sprinkling of chilli flakes.

7) Cover with tin foil and whack in the oven for 25-30 mins at 180 degrees Celsius.

8) Prepare your sauce by adding 2 parts soy sauce and 1 part teriyaki sauce into a small bowl. Add grated ginger and finely sliced spring onion.

9) Take your dish out of the oven and test the rice. When its cooked, drizzle your sauce over the top.

10) Garnish with some finely chopped bell peppers for a splash of colour, a handful of sesame seeds, and some coriander. Serve and reap your rewards.

Top-tip: Don't forget where you put the garlic, unless you want your guests to hate you. If you take out the garlic and finely chop it, you can add it to the sauce in step 9.

Bonus top-tip: Remove all the empty bean cans from your bedroom before you guests fine them...

Level-it up with a sprinkling of Sichuan pepper at step 6.