Recipe: Roasted Eggplant Chickpea Curry

Ingredients

• 2 medium eggplants
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion
• 1 red capsicum
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons smoked paprika
• 2 teaspoons turmeric
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced (or jar garlic)
• 2 teaspoons fresh ginger (or 1/2 teaspoons ground)
• 1 teaspoons garam masala (can use curry powder if you don't have garam masala)
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1 can (270ml) coconut milk
• 2 cans (400g) chickpeas, drained
• 3 cups cooked rice/quinoa

Rice and coriander leaves to serve (optional)

Nutrition Information

ROASTED EGGPLANT CHICKPEA CURRY

This really benefits from long, slow cooking to allow the flavours to infuse. Cook ahead of time or in the slow cooker overnight. This is also a great budget friendly meal and freezes well.  Although there’s a few steps, most of them are roasting or slow cooking, so actual prep time is quite low!

This recipe is also full of plants which are great for gut health. It also provides 2/3 of your daily fibre requirement in each serve. 

Serves: 4 | Preparation Time: 6-8 hours slow cooker

Method

1. Chop the eggplant into 2 -3 cm chunks. Place in a roasting dish, drizzle over in olive oil, and bake in the oven at 180 degree Celsius for 1 hour or until golden brown
   
2. Dice the onion and de-seed and chop the capsicum into small pieces
   
3. Heat a large frypan or oven safe skillet with a lid, add 2 tbsp olive oil, then saute the onion for  5 minutes or until translucent. Now stir in the spices (ground coriander, smoked paprika, turmeric and garam masala). You can add a tbsp of water if the mixture gets dry. Add garlic and ginger, and cook all together for 1 minute.
4. Add the canned tomatoes, coconut milk and chickpeas. Stir in together then add the roasted eggplant. 
5. Transfer the whole curry to the slow cooker and cook on the high heat option for 6 – 8 hours. Note: if you have an oven safe skillet, you can put the lid on and transfer to the oven, cook for 3 – 4 hours on 160 degrees Celsius. 
   
6. Serve with cooked rice (or quinoa) and picked coriander leaves.