This recipe is from a British book called Vegan Recipes. The stew was edible, but not great, and took a long time to prepare. It's possible, if not probable, that it was only bad due to a combination of inferior ingredients and the fact that I was running in and out of the kitchen to tend to the puppies (who were thoughtful enough to wake up and start tearing things apart just as I began working on this recipe). I might give this one another shot at some point just because I'm a big fan of all the ingredients and I feel like this ought to work.
I'm going to list the ingredients as the book had them, then list the ingredients I actually used (the recipe in the book made 6 servings--I wanted to make a 4-serving recipe).
From the book:
3 large aubergines, cubed
200g/7oz/1 C. chick-peas, soaked overnight
60ml/4 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves
2 large onions, chopped
2.5ml/1/2 tsp ground cumin
2.5ml/1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2.5ml/1/2 tsp ground coriander
3 x 400g/14 oz cans chopped tomatoes
salt and freshly ground black pepper
cooked rice, to serve
For the garnish (I omitted this):
30ml/2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 garlic clove, sliced
fresh coriander sprigs
The ingredients I used:
2 large eggplants (aubergines)
1 can of chick-peas (Garbanzo beans)
3 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon (I accidentally put a full teaspoon in--this may have ruined the whole dish)
1/2 tsp ground coriander
28 oz can of chopped tomatoes (I used a cheap brand--this may also have contributed to the poor taste)
salt and freshly ground black pepper
cooked rice, to serve
Omitted the garnish (Probably also had something to do with it)
1. Put the eggplant cubes in a colander over a bowl and salt them. After half an hour, rinse them. Also, the book doesn't say to, but if you're using brown rice, now is when you should start cooking it.
2. Cook the oil, garlic and onion in a big pot until the onions are soft. (I used my biggest pot and once everything was in, it barely fit. I had to scoop out some just to stir it.)
3. Add the spices and mix in. Then add the eggplant cubes and stir to coat. Cook 5 minutes.
4. Add the tomatoes and chick-peas and salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes. (I seasoned after cooking, which may have affected the flavor. I also added sugar to the finished product to make it palatable--with better tomatoes, this may not have been necessary.)
5. Fry the onion and garlic for the garnish. Serve the stew on a bed of rice and top with the fried onions and coriander sprigs (cilantro leaves).
Here's what it looked like in the pot. (The rice is cooking under the foil in the background.):
And here it is in the bowl:
This meal didn't turn out very spicy or stew-like. It was more like chunks of mostly-cooked veggies with an overwhelming cinnamon flavor (that last part was my fault). I cooked it as long as the recipe said to, but I would have cooked it longer if it hadn't been nearly 10 PM by that point (I started working on it at 7:30, but like I said, I was dealing with the puppies.)
C+, but deserving of a second try
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