Arabian Chickpea and Eggplant Stew
This recipe was in the paper, but of course I changed it and made it 45 mins rather than several hours. You could also use grilled eggplant (flesh only), 2 grilled poblanos, hot smoked paprika (rather than sweet) and fire roasted canned tomatoes for a more smoky version.
Servings 8 servings
Equipment
- 1 Large heavy bottomed pot or dutch oven
Ingredients
- 1 pack Ground Chicken OPTIONAL Try to find a blend, not just breast, which is low fat and NO flavour.
- 2 Tbl EVOO
- 4 Chinese or Japanese long eggplants, halved and sliced into 1/2" pieces OR 2 small Italian Eggplants. Asian varieties are easier to cut and cook.
- 1 med Onion, 1/2" dice White or red onion.
- 8 cloves Garlic, minced
- 2 cans Chick Peas (ceci, garbanzos), drained
- 1 can Diced tomatoes with juice Fire roasted is nice!
- 1 Tbl Tomato paste
- 1 Tbl Aleppo pepper sub 1 tsp cayenne and 2 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 Tbl Cumin
- 1 tsp Allspice
- 3/4 Cup Chicken or Vegetable stock more or less to your preference
- 1/4 Cup Red Wine vinegar sub Sherry vinegar
- 1-2 Lemons, zest and juice start with one, use two if needed
- 1 Tbl Sugar IF needed to balance tomatoes, to your taste. Agave may be used, but use much less. TASTE IT.
- 1/4 Cup Fresh Parsley, chopped use fresh here
- S/P to taste
- Fresh mint, chiffonade OPTIONAL
- Crumbled Feta OPTIONAL, but I highly recommend
Instructions
- Partially peel the eggplants, then halve longways and slice 1/2" across for half moons. Dice onions and mince garlic. Zest lemons and chop parsley.
- Arrange eggplant on a baking sheet with EVOO and roast at 400ºF until browned.
- On medium heat, put EVOO in dutch oven and sweat onions and garlic. Add chicken if using and sauté until browned. Add 1 tsp salt.
- Add eggplant, chickpeas, tomatoes, tom paste, spices and lemon zest. Turn heat up to med high. Stir for a couple of minutes.
- Add stock to get the thickness you like. Simmer a couple more minutes.
- Turn down heat to low and add vinegar and lemon juice. Add sugar if needed to balance the acid. Add parsley. Check S/P to your taste. When stew reaches simmer again, turn off the heat.
- Serve with a chiffonade of mint and crumbled feta.
Notes
This stew can be as spicy as you like - just add more aleppo pepper.
I like the vegetarian version as well as the chicken version. Feel free to omit the chicken!
The trick to this stew is balancing the acid/savoury. You do NOT want to put too much sugar or agave! Just enough to take away the strong acidity of the tomatoes, vinegar and lemon juice. You might not even need it - it depends on the tomatoes you use.
Do not simmer too long once you've added the lemon juice or it will go bitter on you.
Image courtesy thesaltandsweet.com