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North African vegetable and lentil stew
20 minutes
low 6-8 hours, high 3-4 hours, plus extra 30 minutes
6-8
![North African vegetable and lentil stew](https://www.allysongofton.co.nz/content/recipes/3101.jpg?width=320&height=479&fit=bounds)
I like to serve this dish with a sharp-tasting pickled fruit on the side like sweet-spiced and pickled pears or figs. Failing this, pan-fry pear slices in a little butter until golden, drizzle with a little balsamic vinegar and serve with the stew. The berbere spice mix is essential for an authentic flavour. It is most commonly used in the cooking of Ethiopia.
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small eggplants
- 1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 red capsicums, diced
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon minced ginger
- 1 teaspoon minced chilli
- 1-2 tablespoons berbere spice mix
- 1 cup brown lentils
- 400 gram can chopped tomatoes in juice
- 3 cups vegetable stock or water
- 3-4 bunches fresh spinach
- Berbere spice mix
- 1½ tablespoons each cumin and coriander seeds
- 1½ teaspoons fenugreek seeds
- 1 teaspoon each whole allspice berries, peppercorns, cloves and cardamom seeds
- 2-3 teaspoons chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Method
- Turn the slow cooker on to low to pre-warm while gathering and preparing the ingredients.
- Cut the eggplant into 1-cm thick slices and cut each slice in half.
- Heat a good dash of oil in a frying-pan and cook the onion and capsicums over a moderate heat until well-browned. Stir in the garlic, ginger, chilli and spice mix and cook for a further 1-2 minutes until the ingredients are very fragrant.
- Into the pre-warmed slow cooker put the eggplant, onion, capsicums, garlic, ginger, chilli, spice mix, lentils, tomatoes and stock or water. Stir as well as possible and cover with the lid.
- Cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours, or until the lentils are soft. Stir once during this time if possible.
- Tear the coarse stems from the spinach and rinse the leaves, shaking off any excess water. Add the leaves to the stew, stir in, cover and cook for a further 30 minutes on high.
- Season well with salt and pepper and serve the lentils with sweet-spiced pickled fits or similar and garnish with coarsley chopped parsley leaves.
- Berbere spice mix
- Toast the whole spices in a dry hot frying-pan for 2 minutes or until lightly toasted and fragrant. Transfer to a spice grinder and cool. Add the chilli, nutmeg and cinnamon and grind until fine. Store in an airtight container.
Cooks Tips
- For extra flavour, brush the eggplant slices with oil and pan-fry until well browned on each side.
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