Today's entry comes from a cookbook that we read often, but do not really use. But we found one recipe that seemed so interesting to us, and we would never have imagined putting eggplants and chickpeas together, that we had to try it. The recipe is Spicy Chickpea and Aubergine Stew. It comes from the book The Complete Book of Greek Cooking (authored by Rena Salaman and Jan Cutler). This book has great photos and easy to follow instructions. As mentioned, we read it regularly, and usually it sparks other ideas of what to make, but today, we were so drawn to this one recipe, we felt we had to try it.
Aubergines are eggplants and are common in so many Greek dishes. Typically, we would call them melintzanes. All over the Mediterranean, the eggplant is used in many dishes. The variety of eggplants available today is tremendous, with white eggplant, American eggplant, Italian eggplant, and Chinese eggplant -- all have different shapes, colours, and bitterness levels. The one step in this recipe that we found was so necessary was removing some of the bitterness from the eggplant. That is done by cutting the eggplant and coating it with salt. This draws out some of the liquid, therefore removing some of the bitterness. There are some of us that like that sharp taste of eggplant, but in this dish, we wanted to taste the variety of spices used. From what we read, the spices used in this stew are more common to northern Greece.
For this recipe, you will need:
1 large eggplant, cut into cubes
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 Tablespoons oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 large onion, sliced or chopped
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1 14 oz can chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
Start by cutting up the eggplant. Dice it in even-sized cubes that will fit perfectly on a fork. Then, put the cut eggplant in a colander or a sieve and coat the cubes with salt. Allow this to sit over a bowl for at least 30 minutes to remove the bitter liquids. The amount of liquid drawn out by the salt will vary depending on the age of the eggplant, the amount of salt, and the amount of time the eggplant sits. Do not let it sit more than 1 hour because the eggplant will become completely mushy.
While the eggplant is draining, prepare your other ingredients. Slice the onion into think strips. Also, cut the garlic into fine slices or you can mince it through a garlic press We liked the sliced garlic for appearances in the final product. Some folks may find it easier to press the garlic or use the ready-minced garlic. All are fine, as long as it equals about 3 cloves.
Now, heat the oil in a heavy bottom pot. There should be enough oil to coat the bottom of the pot, without looking like we are deep frying anything. Cook the onions and the garlic together in the oil. We put a lid on the pan so we could sweat the onions, which also prevented them from becoming too brown in colour. Cook until the onions become translucent. Add a little sprinkle of salt and pepper to the onion mixture.
Now, add the spices of cinnamon, coriander, and cumin. Wow! You will have an amazing smell wafting through the kitchen. Make sure the onions get fully coated with these spices. You will see the onions turn a bit brown from the spices, but that's okay. Just keep mixing so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.
Next, you have to rinse the eggplant under cold water. Keep the water running while you move the colander around; you want to make sure to remove as much of the salt and drippings as you can. After the eggplant is well rinsed, we will add the eggplant to the onion mixture and mix it well, too, making sure that the eggplant is fully coated with the spices. Let this cook for about 10 minutes, until the eggplant is soft.
Then, drain the chickpeas and rinse them well under running water. You don't want any of the canning liquid flavour coming through, so you have to wash them well. Then, add the chickpeas to the pot. Also, add the can of tomatoes - juice and all! Add the entire contents of the can. Mix all of the contents of the pot together so that the onions, the spices, and the tomatoes are evenly distributed in the pan.
Now, cover the pot and allow this to simmer on a medium-low heat for about 20 to 30 minutes. Make sure the eggplant is cooked all the way through and that the chickpeas have softened. You will notice that there may be more liquid in the pot than when you started. That's fine since the vegetables have released their own juices. Also, this gives you one more reason to make a nice rice, quinoa, or pasta to soak up all those extra juices. Serve this warm and enjoy.
We are thrilled to have tried this recipe. It was a first for us. Since neither of our families are from northern Greece (all of my ancestors are Greek islanders while my husband's are from Peloponnesos), we were intrigued at the spice combination and that is what enticed us about this dish originally. Now that we have made this, we know it is an easy meal to serve through Great Lent and we would use it as a side dish in the summer when eggplants are in season. It was filling without being too heavy, and it has so many nice flavours coming through. The cinnamon made the whole house smell good, and the coriander and cumin gave the dish an interesting twist. Who knows? We may have to actually try other recipe from this book instead of just reading and looking at the pictures!
"As salt is needed for all kinds of food, so humility is
needed for all kinds of virtues."
St. Isaac the Syrian
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