Eggplant Would-be Chili

This wasn't quite a fail. But it was not a success. And I won't be making it again.

I had two gorgeous eggplants to use. Gorgeous. Not the full purple ones, but the streaks of purple on white. Gorgeous. I wanted a soup with eggplant and garbanzos (I had cooked up garbanzos earlier in the week and wanted to finish them off).

I also wanted a chili. To be chili, a dish needs cumin, chili peppers/powder, and oregano. I like my chili with beans (come on, vegan here!). And I wanted my chili to have eggplant.

I was out of onions, so this chili didn't get any onions. (I didn't even have onion powder or granules, only garlic.) I had a little bit of red lentils that I thought would add good texture and iron, and millet remaining from a lunch meal for me earlier in the week. I don't know why this turned out so blah.


I chopped up my eggplants, chopped up two small red turnips, added the golden zuchinni I had cut up for J (she asked for "chinni" and then ate one bite of one piece), about a cup of cooked millet, my garbanzos (about a cup), cumin, oregano, Mexican chili powder, 1/3 cup dry red lentils, and 1 1/4 cups water. Hello slowcooker Friday night, cook please so that I have chili for Saturday.

Ok, maybe I know what happened. I was afraid of the spices (I wanted J to be able to eat, and the Mexican chili powder has been too much for her in the past), so I didn't use enough initially. When I tasted the would-be chili in the morning, I added more. But it just wasn't enough. It looked like chili, but the taste just wasn't there. I added fresh oregano and roasted squash seeds when J and I ate it for lunch, which really improved the dish, but still, not something I'm making again. And J had a really hard time eating it...because she didn't like it at all! Eck!

The leftovers...I'm thinking maybe putting them in bread or something. We'll see as the week progresses.

Eggplant Stewed

I'm really not sure what to call this dish. I put it together when I left for work yesterday and D let it cook all day long (when I ate some at 9:30 last night, the burner was still on). It smelled divine and tasted divine as well. It looked...less than divine.

Ingredients
2 small eggplants, sliced and quartered
1 large zucchini, sliced and quartered
1 sweet pepper, chopped (I used a red, orange, and green pepper from the farmer's market)
1 small red onion, chopped
~1 T olive oil
2 cubes Rapunzel vegan bouillon with sea salt
herbes de Provence
1 cup dried small white beans
1 small piece kombu

Method
Sunday night, I put the cup of small dried white beans in a pot and covered with three cups of cold water to soak overnight.
Monday morning, I added the kombu and cooked the beans for an hour. I had to add some extra water while they were cooking to keep them under water.
Meanwhile, I chopped the onion and cooked it in the olive oil in my big Le Creuset. I also cut up the eggplant, zuchinni, and pepper, adding them once the onion was nice and fragrant. I sprinkled a bunch of herbes de Provence, and stirred everything well.
Then, I added the bouillon and 4-5 cups of water. When the beans were done (I checked by blowing on a few and seeing the skin come off), I added them and their cooking water to the Le Creuset. I left it on 4 on my simmer burner.
I put the 2 cups of brown rice with 5 cups of water in my rice cooker.
That's where my involvement ended. I told D to check the pot to see if it needed more water, and that it should be ready for lunchtime. D left it cooking all day, so it was really cooked down by the time I got home. J (and D I think) had it for lunch and I had it for dinner. Few scoops of brown rice topped with the stewed eggplant/bean mixture. Super yum, but not very attractive. Fortunately, my child does not judge based on appearances.

Did I mention that when I got home last night, I could smell the yumminess as I got to my front door? Sign of a good meal. :)

Slow Cooker Late Summer Provencal Stew

Date: August 24, 2009 (morning, put in the slow cooker for that day's meals)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dried small white beans, soaked overnight (got them on markdown at Target...)
4 1/2 cups water

2 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic (or more as you like), minced
1 1/2 T organic extra virgin olive oil
2 medium eggplants (Farmer's market buy on Sat), peeled and cubed (1/2 inch cubes)
2 medium summer zucchini (Farmer's market score), cubed (1/2 inch cubes)
1 very large heirloom tomato (again, Farmer's market score), diced
2 T herbes de Provence
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cube Rapunzel vegan vegetable bouillon with sea salt

Directions

1. Remember to soak the bean overnight! Rinse them, then add beans and water to cast iron pot on stove. Cook for for approximately one hour over medium heat.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the veggies - chopping, dicing, etc.
   
3. Place all vegetable and spices into the slow cooker.
4. Add the beans and their cooking water.
5. Put slow cooker on high and allow to cook for 2-3 hours. Add more water as needed.
6. Serve over or with brown rice.
   

Recipe Analysis
I estimate that this recipe will make eight servings of yummy soup. Nutritional analysis (excluding bouillon) from caloriecounter.com -- they give it an A.
Serving Size: 388.9 g
Calories per serving: 201, Calories from fat: 30
Details: 11.2 g protein, 34.8 g carbs (12%), 11.0 g fiber (44%), 6.1 g sugars, 137 mg sodium (6%), 0 mg cholesterol, 3.3 g total fat (5%), 0.5 g saturated fat (3%), 6% DV Vitamin A, 27% DV Vitamin C, 12% DV Calcium, 25% DV Iron.
Highlights: Low in saturated fat; No cholesterol; Very high in dietary fiber; High in iron; High in manganese; High in magnesium; High in potassium; High in vitamin C.

Notes

1. I wanted to also include a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes in this recipe, but everything wouldn't fit in my slow cooker. Need to buy a larger slow cooker...
2. J loved this soup according to D. She ate a bowl and a half for dinner that night with me. Pretty cool.
3. This recipe is based on various recipes for ratatouille that I found online when I decided I wanted to buy eggplant.