Maghmour , Mnazeleh - Guyana style - baigan and channa stew





Mind in a whirl over the things I used to do which I can't do properly and I go looking for a distraction to see if I could cook something different.
Mind is on baigan and channa - not curry and figuring out if there are things which people do with them.

Thanks to Google and the bloggers - I learn about the "eggplant and chick pea " stew from the Middle East.

Two recipes - Maghmour from Lebanon and Mnazeleh - a recipe from a Druze family look good though I know I am not going to pan-fry the baigan or light up oven just to roast the baigan slices.

The lady who I got mint from in Mon Repos market was not there so I thought alright.. I will use thyme - the thick-leaf one and the fine-leave one.

Salting the baigan 
Some people say to slice up, chop up the eggplant/baigan and put salt and leave one side in a colander so that some moisture could come out. I did that and it was something else to see. You have to wash out the salt though before you cook. Some people say no need to do this.  The original recipe requires the baigan slices to be pan fried first. I never been able to pan fry or anything-fry successfully.

Cup of water/vegetable stock
I use coconut milk instead of water/vegetable stock.. just because I am in Guyana.



Ingredients
2 lb baigan or boulanger or eggplant or aubergine
2 cups or so of cooked channa/chickpeas
Onions - sliced up
Garlic
About 1lb tomatoes - grated,
2 tbsp tomato paste in addition
Ginger (just because)
Thyme and anything else you have
Geera (cumin) - which I fried in the hot oil first to get the smoky flavour which was supposed to come from smoked paprika.
Wiri Wiri or other hot pepper (instead of paprika) , Cinammon, nutmeg - mixed as a substitute for baharat seasoning
- Water , or coconut milk

Method
-  Partially peel the baigan and then cut up into cubes . You can try salting before.
- Heat oil, put in the whole geera. Chunkay the sliced onions first, then put in garlic, tomato paste, ginger and the other spices
- put in the grated tomatoes and let it simmer for a bit.
- Stir in channa, and then the baigan
- put enough liquid to let it simmer nicely - maximum 20 minutes.

Leave it to  cool a bit and then eat - alone or with roti or bread or rice or anything else.

One taster told me that it taste nice and spicy.. but it wanted salt.

(So add salt if you cook with salt then :) )

Enjoy..

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