Lentil and Eggplant Stew

        This is my slight variation of a Turkish stew that was featured in Food & Wine. A delightful and unique taste for this dish is the sweet tart pomegranate molasses and olive oil drizzled on it before serving. You can serve this by itself as a light meal or add a variety of side dishes like rice pilaf, sweet potatoes, yogurt or spinach salad for a healthy and heartier group meal.

Lentil and Eggplant Stew

Serves 6 (1 cup servings)

printable recipe

Ingredients:

½ T. coconut oil

½ cup onion, small diced

½ cup celery, small diced

½ cup carrot, small diced

1 t. cumin seed (note below) 

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. tomato paste

½ cup brown lentils

2 cups vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

2 roma tomatoes, diced

2 cups eggplant, quartered and cut in 3” pieces (*3-4 Filipino eggplants)

2 T. pomegranate molasses

Olive oil

*Use the smaller, narrow eggplants for this recipe. I use the Filipino eggplant because that is what is available here. They cook up quick and have mild tasting skins that do not need to be removed. The Chinese or Japanese eggplants would be good options as well.

Directions:

1. On medium heat, in a 5 qt. chili pot, add the coconut oil. When the oil is hot add the onion, celery and carrots. Cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetable are tender. Add the cumin seed and garlic, cook 1 more minute. Stir in the tomato paste. Stir in the vegetable stock, bay leaf and lentils. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer. Cook covered for 20 minutes.

2. Add the eggplant and tomatoes on top of the lentils. If the lentils absorbed a lot of liquid then add some more vegetable broth. Cover and simmer 20 – 30 minutes, until lentils and vegetables are tender. 

3. Transfer to a serving dish. Drizzle with a little olive oil, then drizzle on the pomegranate molasses.

Note: Pomegranate molasses can be bought at Middle Eastern markets or you can easily make it. Here on Guam you can find it at Pomika’s, in the back of Meena’s as well as the Micronesian Mall Payless. There are a lot or recipes on the internet that use 4 cups of pomegranate juice. This is a very expensive juice here on Guam so I made a smaller version with 2 cups of juice.

Pomegranate molasses is very tart. Not an equivalent taste but you could substitute a squeeze of lemon for the pomegranate molasses.

Pomegranate syrup or molasses:

2 cups pomegranate juice (pure juice, no added sugar)

¼ cup sugar (I use coconut sugar)

Place the juice and sugar in a small sauce pan. Heat on medium high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Bring to a slow boil then reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 50 minutes, reducing the liquid to ¾ cup for a syrup or cook 70 minutes and reduce to ½ cup for molasses.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool in the pan. It will thicken as it cools. Transfer to a glass jar, store in the refrigerator for up to 6 months, although I am pretty sure it won’t last that long! :-)

Cumin Seed:
I love using cumin seed in recipes. If you don't have cumin seed then use cumin powder. Substitute about 1/2 tsp. for 1 tsp. of cumin seed.

Here is a fun read about the heath benefits of cumin- Cumin Seeds