Cumin Roasted Aubergines with Persimmon

How cute are these baby aubergines?  They're literally 5 times more expensive than your normal aubergines and they taste exactly the same but look how cute.  You know how we are evolutionarily predisposed to like babies and puppies and kittens and I think the same applies to vegetables.  We find baby vegetables irresistible.  I personally prefer these to human babies.

 It's a very simple dish but it was all about experimenting with flavors.  It would've been quite a classic if this was with pomegranate seeds but I wanted to try something else and this works in my humble opinion. Once the flavor combination has been established, you can really play around with it, if you're feeling ambitious try pureeing the persimmons.  Or hey make a baba ghanoush with diced persimmon on top as garnish.  You don't have to use baby aubergines.

Serves 2 as a starter
Ingredients
4 baby aubergines, sliced in half, stem attached
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil + more for drizzling
1/2 clove of garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 a persimmon
mint leaves
fleur de sel

Method
Preheat oven to 180C.  Using a sharp knife, make criss-cross incisions in the flesh of the aubergines, making sure that you don't cut all the way through.  Mix the oil together with the garlic, cumin seeds and some salt and pepper.  Rub the mixture into the flesh.  Put the aubergines, flesh side up, on a baking tray to bake for about 20-30 minutes until tender. 

Meanwhile, dice the persimmon into small cubes. 

Plate by serving the aubergines together with persimmon cubes, mint leaves, some fleur de sel and olive oil.  garlic together with