This Lebanese Moussaka is a delicious vegan eggplant, onion and chickpea stew cooked in tomato sauce. It's flavoured with garlic and warm spices like cinnamon and cumin to create a magical final result! It's quick, easy and super flavourful.
Start by washing the eggplant and peeling it every other stripe lengthwise, to make zebra pattern. Then slice the eggplant into 3 slices lengthwise, then cut each slices into medium sized cubes
Toss the eggplant with the oil and salt, then lay on a parchment lined baking sheet (do not overcrowd them) and bake for 30 minutes. Broil for 5 minutes at the end.
Prepare the other ingredients by chopping the onion into medium sized chunks, washing and draining the chickpeas, mincing or grating the garlic, and grating the tomatoes and keeping its juices in a bowl
In a pan on medium heat, add the oil and onions and cook for 5 minutes until softened and starting to caramelize. Add the chickpeas, garlic and the spices and continue to cook for a few minutes until the spices and chickpeas are toasted
Add the grated tomatoes with all the juices, stir, then cover and let everything simmer for 10 minutes
Once ready, add the eggplant to the pan, and very gently stir until just combined. Cover and let it simmer for another 5 minutes.
Uncover, taste, adjust anything you need to like the salt, and then either serve it hot or place in the fridge to chill
Notes
You can use dry chickpeas that have already been half cooked. So they should be soft but still holding their shape and not overly mushy
Traditionally the eggplant is fried, but I choose to roast so I can use less oil and because it's also less messy. But you can definitely fry them if you prefer
If the tomatoes you're using are not that juicy, you can help it along by adding a few tablespoons of water to help everything simmer together