Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Arrange the eggplants in a large baking dish, cut sides up. Brush the cut sides with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the upper third of the oven for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the cinnamon, cumin and sweet paprika.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and half of the spice mixture, cover and cook over medium heat, stirring a few times, until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the ground lamb and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until fully cooked, about 4 minutes. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the fat in the skillet.
Stir in the pine nuts, tomato paste, chopped parsley, sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon the filling onto the eggplant.
In the small bowl with the remaining spices, whisk together the water, lime juice, molasses, sugar and a pinch of salt and pepper and pour into the baking dish. Add he cinnamon stick and cover the dish with foil. Bake about 50 minutes, basting with the pan juices, until very tender.
Transfer the eggplant to a platter and discard the cinnamon stick. Pour the pan juices over the eggplant, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.
1 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for drizzling
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
1½ tsp. cumin
1½ tsp. sweet paprika
1 cup chopped onion
1 lb. ground lamb
3 Tbsp. pine nuts
2 tsp. tomato paste
1/8 cup parsley, chopped, plus more for garnish
3 tsp. sugar, divided
½ cup water
2 Tbsp. lime juice
1 Tbsp. molasses
1 cinnamon stick
This article appears in August 2013.