This mildly spiced, easy, eggplant spinach & chickpea curry is on the menu on repeat in autumn.

It’s a one pot dinner so no fussing about with more pans. It is mildly spiced for the sake of my daughter but you can add more heat if you wish. A finely chopped green chilli added when you add the garlic and ginger will do the job nicely. My daughter loved this but I guarantee you she wouldn’t love it so much if there was more heat involved.

This eggplant spinach and chickpea curry can be made a day ahead if you like.

Ingredients

• 1 x 220g brown onion sliced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• 1 x thumb size piece of ginger peeled and grated
• 2 fat cloves of garlic minced
• 1 x 250g eggplant cut into chunks
• 150 g spinach washed and patted dry with kitchen paper
• 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas drained and rinsed in cold water
• 1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 tsp ground cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 heaped tsp yellow mustard seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp each sea salt and cracked black pepper
• 1 small handfull fresh coriander stems chopped, leaves left whole (leaves to go in at the end)

Method

• Heat 1 tbs of oil in a large sautee pan, add the onion and gently cook over a low to medium heat for about 10 minutes. The onions should be soft and light brown.
• Add the garlic and ginger and cook for about 1 minute, then add the spices and the chopped coriander stalks. Cook for another minute, until you can smell the spices. Be careful not to let the spices burn.
• Now add the remaining oil and the eggplant, cook for about 5 minutes until the eggplant takes on the colour of the spices. If the pan gets dry add a splash or two of water.
• Pour in the tin of tomatoes plus half a tin of water. Stir and then cover and leave to simmer over a low heat for 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. After 10 minutes add the chickpeas, stir and cover and leave to simmer for another 5 minutes.
• When the eggplant is soft add in the spinach and cook until the spinach has wilted. Finish by stirring in the coriander leaves.
• Serve immediately with rice and almonds