Aubergine Stew

Dear Family  & Friends

There's not an abundance of aubergine this year...but enough to cook to vary the menu for the week.

When my little girl was a tiny tot, although she will eat up the aubergine I put on her plate, yet, she make sure to give me her ugliest look before eating it! I think she didn't like the colour of aubergine then! But everything have changed since ...in fact, aubergine is one of our family's favourite...whatever way I cook it!

When we don't have many aubergine to spare, we mix other veggies in to make a stew!
Here's my way of making the stew:

2 Aubergine, cut into chunks
5 large Tomatoes, diced
6 Okra, sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 big Onions, chopped
2 large sweet pepper, diced
Minced meat (beef, lamb, or pork whatever your preference or you can omit this for a vegetarian meal)
Olive oil
Herbs like parsley, basil, oregano or thyme
2-3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper

Heat the oil in the pan. Saute minced meat till brown. Add the aubergine chunks and cook on a high heat for around 4 or 5 minutes. Then, add the onion, and garlic for a couple of minutes. Add a little more oil to the pan if you feel it's getting too dry. Throw in the tomatoes, okra, sweet pepper, plus the herbs. Drizzle over a bit of vinegar and simmer for around 15 minutes or until tender.

Taste before serving and season if you need to with salt, pepper and a little more vinegar. Drizzle with some good olive oil and serve sprinkled with the chopped parsley leaves if you like.

You know why aubergine is also called an eggplant! We have dark purple ones and the other variety is a white aubergine because they sometimes comes all white in colour!

Next year, I hope to plant more okras and aubergine... it's always nice to have them fresh and available because the whole family likes them,  and eating some healthy delicous meals are one of the many fun times we could have at our dining table:)

Yours