Another childhood Moroccan dish that I modified a little bit and turned vegan—my mother and grandmother used to make it with chicken legs or stew beef meat. When I was a little kid that was the only eggplant dish I liked. The eggplants melt into the stew like meat fat so you can’t really see them. My boys still don’t love them in general, but would eat eggplants when cooked this way.

You can make this dish with zucchini instead eggplant. If you can’t do gluten or doesn’t want to eat it like a true Berber, with bread, then serve it with basmati rice.

About the recipe
This stew cooks on the stove for 20 minutes and in the oven for 20 more minutes. If you want to put it in the oven and forget about it for 1 hour, you can—at 370°F/185°C. You want to use a thick, heavy pot, preferably a cast iron pot or Dutch Oven. It cooks everything evenly and prevents the vegetables from burning. I received a nice Japanese pot that I love, and I also have a cheaper smaller pot from Amazon that does the job.

You can replace the onions with garlic (about 4 cloves).

How to Choose a Good Eggplant

My mother told me how to choose the right eggplant; it must be dark, shiny, and lightweight. Because if it’s heavy, it has too many seeds and it’s bitter, I learned later, when I finally started to cook in my twenties. The new varieties of eggplants aren’t as bitter as they used to be, though I still use that tip when I buy any type of eggplant. 

How funny—when I googled in Hebrew why shiny and light eggplant is better, I bumped into a question someone posted in one of my cooking groups on Facebook: “How do you choose a seedless eggplant? Is there a special type, or is it a matter of seasons?”

Good question. Most of the answers were the same as my mother’s—light and shiny—and some people claimed that it depends if the eggplant is male or female. A male eggplant has fewer seeds than a female, therefore they’re lighter. More seeds, less meat. I never checked but I think I’m bisexual.

How do you know which is which? Boy eggplants have a round dimple on the bottom, while girl eggplants have a dash-like dimple. 

Another person commented: in the season, which is winter, eggplants have fewer seeds.

I didn’t care enough to research the sexes theory, but if you feel like investigating, go for it and keep us posted by commenting below. However, next time I buy eggplants, I’ll test the male-female theory—see which has more seeds. That kind of research I don’t mind—just not spending more time in front of my computer screen.

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that I love eggplants. They’re one of my favorite vegetables. No wonder I have so many eggplant recipes here. I picked some of the recipes for you, but you can search for more if you’d like to choose yourself.
Lentils cooked with eggplant
Eggplant, Shallot and Scallion Stew
Smoky Butternut Squash, Eggplant & Bell Pepper Salad
Easy Rice Eggplant Pilaf
Smoky Eggplant Dip