Ratatouille Channa

This chickpea and eggplant curry started out as a recipe for ratatouille from "Cooking for Engineers." But I don't like sweet peppers, so I decided to substitute finely diced carrots to achieve an alternative sweet crunch. And then I didn't have any zucchinni. And then I decided to add a pound of chickpeas to make it into a meal. So it basically has no resemblance to the original. But it'd delicious!

NOTE: You will be deglazing the pot in this recipe, so do not use a non-stick pot!

If you substitute vegetable broth or white wine for the chicken stock, this recipe is vegan and kosher parve.

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 ripe tomatoes, diced
• 1 1/2 lbs eggplant, cut into 1/2 cubes
  
• 1 lb. cooked chickpeas (about 8 oz. dry)
  
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 3/4 cup chicken stock or white wine
• 4 carrots, diced into very small (<>
• 10 oz. crimini mushrooms, quartered
  
• 2 tbsp. tomato paste
  
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  
• 4 sprigs basil, minced
• 5 sprigs parsely, minced
• Olive oil for sauteing
• Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Heat olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat. Add garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spatula.
2. Add onion and continue to sauté until soft, another 4-6 minutes.
3. Add the tomato paste and combine, continuing to sauté until the tomato paste begins to darken, 1-2 minutes.
   
4. Deglaze the pot with the broth, scraping the bottom with the wooden spatula to free all the onion and tomato drippings.
5. Once the broth begins to simmer, add the mushrooms eggplant and carrots. Cook for 12 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Add diced tomatoes, chickpeas and minced herbs. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for a couple more minutes.

Serve with white rice. Makes excellent leftovers.