Chez Moncef

Here’s the recipe for my off-the-cuff dinner tonight. It turned out quite well, so I thought I’d share it with you.

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves
3/4 lb. indian eggplant (4 to 6 of them)
1 small fresh tomato
1 red bell pepper
cumin
ground coriander
curry powder
ground turmeric
garam masala
coarsely ground sea salt
ground black pepper
extra virgin olive oil

Method:

Cut each garlic clove in half
Cut the tomato in 4
Remove the stem, and clean the inside of the pepper
Cut it lengthwise in about 1/4” thick pieces
Remove the stems and slice the eggplants in thin rounds
Spread a generous amount of olive oil on a large baking sheet. Cover with foil beforehand for easy cleanup.
Coat the eggplant, tomato, pepper and garlic
Arrange them all in one layer. Try not to overlap.
Season evenly with a few good pinches of salt and pepper, 1 or 2 small pinches of garam masala and turmeric, and several pinches of cumin, coriander and curry.
Bake in the oven at 450 degrees (F) for about 20 minutes. Check after 10 and 15 minutes depending on how thinly you sliced the eggplant.
Once the eggplant is soft, remove everything except for the peppers (they take longer to soften) and mash them together with a fork in a bowl. Add the peppers once they’re done.

I had some leftover rotisserie chicken that I added to the mixture, which then ended up inside a pita.