Aubergine and spiced chickpea dish

This is definitely a long due post! Settling back into the routine of University has been quite difficult given that this is my last term ever! Everyone just seems to be wanting to do as much as possible during these last few months as a student. Before I get on to my main recipe, here are a few of the other dishes that I've made recently! I tried to go for a healthy take on lasagna/cannelloni with homemade whole wheat pasta, which was a hit and will be posted soon.

Although I do think that St Valentine's celebrations has just become a huge overrated commercial affair, I can't deny what a great excuse to bake it entails! I made a few St Valentine's goodies for my friends, lecturers and PASS students to distribute tomorrow. The cupcakes are definitely worth making and anyone who is willing to, here's the recipe.

I hosted a vegetarian 'Come dine with me' dinner party yesterday night, which although nearly didn't happen due to the severe weather and warnings, was a great success! 

I made a spinach and ricotta lasagna, a big mixed salad, some sweet potato and lentil nut roast and a grilled Aubergine and chickpea sort of warm salad followed by warm chocolate fondants and homemade raspberry frozen yogurt.
The Aubergine dish really reminded me of 'chatini bringel', a traditional Mauritian side dish and I feel that this is a nice way of making a main course out of this gorgeous vegetable.

GRILLED AUBERGINE AND SPICED CHICKPEA DISH

• 2 medium aubergines
• 1 400g can of cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp ground cumin
• 0.5 tsp ground coriander seeds, optional 
• Chilli flakes, optional
• 0.5- 0.75 can of chopped tomatoes 
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• A couple of teaspoons of lemon juice
• A few walnuts, pine nuts or any nut of choice for crunch, optional 

OPTIONAL YOGURT SAUCE

• About 10 tbsp thick natural yogurt or Greek yogurt
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• A few broken walnuts
• A few coriander leaves, roughly chopped

1. Thinly slice the aubergines horizontally into long slices. Cook them either in an oven, a frying pan or on the barbecue, varying cooking time until aubergines are soft and browned. I put mine on a baking tray with olive oil, salt and pepper and baked for 15 mins at 175 degrees Celsius. 
2. In a large frying pan, fry up the chopped onion until translucent, add in the cinnamon, cumin and coriander and fry off for a minute or so.
3.  Add in the chickpeas and chopped tomatoes and simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes, you might need to add a little water if it dries up. Once the chickpeas are tender, season with salt, pepper, lemon juice and optional chilli flakes.
4. If you are making the yogurt sauce, just mix together the listed ingredients and season with salt and pepper.To plate up, arrange the Aubergine slices on a large plate, scatter on the spiced chickpeas and top with fresh coriander, nuts and the yogurt sauce.

Enjoy! I think that the smokiness of the aubergines, the spicy yet refreshing 'tomatoey' chickpeas and the cool yogurt sauce all work so well together and would be perfect for a big family lunch spread in Mauritius, oh how I miss home right now!

Happy St Valentine's everyone.

Xx

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