Curried Eggplant with Chickpeas and Greens

OK, this is it, I have had it with winter. Come on now, can't mother nature have the decency to provide us with one lousy day of sunshine? This is ridiculous. The dogs are going crazy, despite our daily hike in the woods. Maggie, the young one, just puts her front paws on my lap and stares at me like I am supposed to 'do something' about it. The Christmas tree is still up. Decorations are in a little pile in the dining room. Jees....

Decided to do something with eggplant, as it is one of my fav vegetables and they don't keep in the refrigerator for more than a few days. Didn't want to do a tomato based recipe, so I went with a curry dish. Matt usually complains if there isn't some kind of protein in our dinners, so I chose chickpeas. Also had a bag of collard greens (cleaned and washed) that I needed to use up.

Didn't really follow a recipe. So forgive me if I miscalculated the measurements. I am going from memory. (uh-oh)

CURRIED EGGPLANT WITH CHICKPEAS AND GREENS

serves 4-5

1 medium eggplant, peeled and diced

1 can chickpeas, drained

1/2 bag collard greens ***

2 onions, peeled and sliced

1 can light coconut milk

4-5 large cloves garlic, minced/pressed

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon curry

pinch garam marsala (optional)

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

sugar and salt to taste

brown/white rice - cooked

put eggplant cubes in bowl of water to cover with a tablespoon of salt. soak for 30 min. drain and pat dry with paper towels.

heat large saute pan on med/high. melt butter and add curry/garam marsala and cumin seeds. saute until cumin seeds are fragrant and butter is almost nut brown. watch carefully that it doesn't burn!

add onions and turn heat down to medium/low. cook until wilted, about 10 minutes

increase heat to almost high and add eggplant - saute for 5 min.

make a well in the middle of eggplant mix and add garlic. cook about 30 seconds

add greens and chickpeas and coconut milk and mix thoroughly

lower heat to medium / low.

cover and simmer for about 15 minutes, until greens are cooked but still bright green

serve with brown / white rice

***you could substitute spinach or kale, just adjust cooking time as the former could be thrown on top of the steaming eggplant and barely wilted