Book group food: Swedish Cabbage Pudding and Pakistani-inspired eggplant dish

Recently I hosted my book group and, inspired by the previous host,  decided to make a Swedish dish. My Cabbage Pudding was a humble concoction comparable with the feast of the past month when our gourmet chef of a host offered eight home-cooked carefully composed dishes representative of her native Pakistan. I loved her seasoning and decided to serve a Pakistani-influenced eggplant dish in addition to the cabbage pudding.


Cabbage Pudding
(6 - 8 servings)
1 1/2 - 2 lbs ground beef
1 1/2 - 2 heads of cabbage
4 - 6 tbsp molasses
1 1/2 tbsp potato starch
Left over rice, potatoes or old bread, grated carrot
2 cups milk
1 1/2 cup broth
1/2 stick butter
salt/pepper

1. Quarter the cabbage heads, remove hard core and thinly slice rest of cabbage
2. Fry in butter in batches - it is a lot of cabbage - at the end when soft and brown drizzle each batch with 1 - 2 tbsp molasses.
3. While the cabbage is frying, mix ground beef with a couple of mashed boiled potatoes or 3/4cup boiled rice or 3 - 4 milk soaked bread slices. Mix in milk and broth until a you get a loose dough. Add potato starch, salt and pepper. It should become a runny dough.
4. Start with a layer of fried cabbage and cover with ground beef mix. Top off with another layer of cabbage.
5. Oven 375F for about 45 minutes or until the ground beef is cooked through.
Serve with boiled potatoes, brown sauce, pickled cucumbers and lingonberry jam.

Eggplant with onions and tomatoes (V)
2 medium sized eggplants
2 yellow onions
4 tbsp olive oil
2 cans crushed tomatoes
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp cumin
1/2 tsps turmeric
1/4 tsp cardamon
2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp freshly grated ginger

1. Slice eggplants in 1/2 inch slices and sprinkle salt on each side. Put in colander and let sit for about 20 minutes to remove bitterness. If you use small eggplants this step is not necessary.
2. Chop onions and fry on low heat in olive oil. Add spices and mix. Add garlic one onions are slightly soft and fry for two more minutes.
3. Dry off eggplants with paper towel. Quarter the slices and add to onion mix. Fry and mix so that eggplants and spice/onion mix blend. Add crushed tomatoes.
4. Simmer on low heat stir occasionally for about 40 minutes or more. Add salt if desired.