Friends, prepare yourselves to fall in love with this recipe.
This flavorful entree is the Best Vegan Moroccan Eggplant Stew around. This will become one of your favorite go-to dish when comfort food is what you are looking for. It is hearty. It is satisfying. It doesn’t require a whole lot of effort or time to prepare. That’s what I call comfort food!
This flavorful vegan stew is a fabulous dish to feed a crowd.
The base for this dish is eggplant. You’ll start by dicing two of them, spicing them up and roasting them.
While the eggplants are cooking, you’ll move on to the luscious broth with protein rich chickpeas, sweet and chewy dried apricots, and the wonderful aromatics.
And start your couscous cooking while you’re at it too. So by the time your eggplant is finished roasting, all of the components of the dish will be ready to come together.
Top it off with some pistachio nuts and cilantro, if desired.
I hope you love this dish as much as I do! It’s actually a veganized version of a Lamb Stew I discovered in Bon Appetit many years ago, long before I went vegan. My friend Natalie, not a fan of lamb, came up with the idea of using eggplant in its place. Brilliant! She passed along her wisdom and this has been a go-to favorite since.
Moroccan Eggplant Stew
Ingredients
For The Eggplant
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 2 tablespoons ground cumin
- 2¼ teaspoons salt
- 1½ teaspoons fennel seeds
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper or too taste
- ¾ teaspoons black pepper
- 2 large eggplants cut into bite sized dice
For The Broth
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large onion finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans (chickpeas), drained equivalent to 1½ cups cooked chickpeas
- 1 ¼ cup dried apricots halved
- 1 15 oz can diced tomatoes
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
- 2 teaspoons packed grated lemon peel
Garnish
- ½ cup pistachios
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro
Serve With
- 2 cups couscous prepared according to package directions
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to convection bake at 350. Mix first six ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggplant and toss to coat. Spread out evenly on a large baking tray, covered in parchment paper. Bake the eggplant for 25-35 minutes, until soft and beginning to brown.
- In a large pot, heat the 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onion and tomato paste. Reduce heat to medium and saute onion until soft for about seven minutes. Add broth, beans, apricots, tomatoes, cinnamon, cumin, ginger and lemon peel. Bring to a boil and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
- Reduce to low and heat until flavors meld for about 15 minutes. Add the eggplant and heat through for a few minutes. If the sauce needs to thicken, continue to heat.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Serve over couscous, garnished with chopped cilantro.
This dish is delish! I subbed the apricots with black plums and pistachio with peanuts because I didn’t have the other ingredients handy. It was still so good.