{"slug":"slow-stewed-chickpea-white-bean-eggplant-curry","collection":"recipes","is_recipe":true,"visibility":"public","title":"Slow-Stewed Chickpea, White Bean \u0026 Eggplant Curry","description":"A one-pot stove-top curry of pan-seared eggplant, chickpeas and white kidney beans stewed in a curry-powder and tomato base, finished with white vinegar and raw red onion. Vegan; served with basmati rice or flatbread.","body_md":"## Ingredients\n\n- 75ml (5 tbsp) neutral oil, divided (grapeseed or similar)\n- 500g (1 large) eggplant, cut into 2cm (¾-inch) cubes\n- 600g (2 large) red onions, finely chopped, 75g (about ½ cup) reserved raw for garnish\n- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped\n- 5 bay leaves\n- 5 tsp (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) curry powder\n- 1 tsp ground cardamom\n- 800g (1 × 28 oz can) chopped tomatoes\n- 1.13kg (40 oz, about 2½ cans) chickpeas, rinsed and drained\n- 425g (1 × 15 oz can) white kidney (cannellini) beans, rinsed and drained\n- 1 tsp granulated sugar\n- 480–600ml (2–2½ cups) water or vegetable broth\n- 1 tsp (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more to taste\n- 1 tsp ground black pepper, plus more to taste\n- 52ml (3½ tbsp) distilled white vinegar\n- 30g (about ½ cup) flat-leaf parsley, chopped\n\n## Special Equipment\n\n- Dutch oven or deep pot of at least 5L (5 quarts) — the finished stew runs 3.5–4L\n\n## Instructions\n\n1.  **Pan-sear the eggplant:** Heat 30ml (2 tbsp) of the oil in the Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the eggplant cubes and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and browned at the edges, 6–8 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.\n\n2.  **Build the spice base:** Add the remaining 45ml (3 tbsp) oil to the same pot. Add the chopped red onion — all of it except the 75g (½ cup) held back for garnish — and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and lightly browned, 5–7 minutes. Add the garlic, bay leaves, curry powder, and cardamom, and stir constantly until fragrant, 30–60 seconds.\n\n3.  **Stew, covered:** Stir in the tomatoes and their juices, the chickpeas, the seared eggplant, the sugar, 480ml (2 cups) of the water, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp black pepper. Bring to a gentle boil, cover, turn the heat to low, and stew for 25 minutes.\n\n4.  **Add the beans and reduce:** Uncover, stir in the white kidney beans gently, and stew uncovered over low heat for another 10–15 minutes, until the sauce thickens to your liking. Going in late keeps them creamy rather than collapsed. If the pot tightens too far at any point, stir in the remaining 120ml (½ cup) water.\n\n5.  **Finish and serve:** Take the pot off the heat and fish out the bay leaves. Stir in the vinegar, then taste and correct for salt and pepper — it will want considerably more salt than the 1 tsp it started with. Ladle into bowls and top with the reserved raw red onion and the parsley. Serve warm with basmati rice or flatbread.\n\n## Notes\n\n- **Provenance.** Received as pasted text with no byline, link, or publication, so `source_name` is recorded as `Unattributed` rather than guessed at. Quantities are as received except where noted below.\n\n- **Converted to metric**, US in parentheses. Oil at 1 tbsp = 15ml; canned goods from their labelled ounce weights (28 oz = 800g, 15 oz = 425g, 40 oz = 1.13kg). \"White kidney beans\" are cannellini — named both ways on the line so either label on the can matches. Two wording changes are for the shopping list's benefit, not the cook's: the source's \"4 medium garlic cloves\" is listed as plain garlic cloves, and \"neutral oil such as grapeseed\" as neutral oil with the grapeseed suggestion moved to the end, so both merge with the same ingredient in other recipes.\n\n- **Chickpeas — the source's \"40 ounces\" is not a can size.** It works out to about 2½ standard 439g (15.5 oz) cans, or roughly 700g drained. Buy three cans and hold part of the third back, or use about 700g drained if you cook your own.\n\n- **Onion garnish, resolved.** The source reserves \"½ cup raw for garnish\" but then cooks \"three-quarters of the chopped onion\" — with two large onions those describe different amounts (a quarter of 600g is closer to a full cup). Pinned here to the smaller of the two: reserve 75g (about ½ cup) raw, cook the rest.\n\n- **The salt is low as written, deliberately left that way.** 1 tsp Diamond Crystal (3g) against roughly 3.5kg of finished stew is about 0.1% — well under the 1–1.5% band that usually tastes seasoned. The canned beans and tomatoes bring their own salt, so start where the source starts, but expect to add 1–2 tsp more at the end. Salt here is Diamond Crystal kosher at 3g/tsp; Morton or table salt at the same volume is up to twice as much.\n\n- **Times.** The source's stated 40–45 minutes covers only the stewing. Searing, sweating, and blooming push the total to 45–55 minutes, which is what `cook_time` records.\n\n- **Vessel.** The source says only \"large Dutch oven or deep pot\". The finished stew is roughly 3.5–4L, so use a pot of at least 5L (5 quarts). Added here; not in the source.\n\n- **Vegan as written.** Check the curry powder — most are straight spice blends, but some sold for fish or seafood curries include dried shrimp.\n\n- **The vinegar is the point.** 52ml (3½ tbsp) sounds like a lot going in, and it is what keeps a long-stewed pot of beans and tomato from reading flat. Add it off the heat, then season.\n","draft":false,"servings":"6–8","prep_time":"15 minutes","cook_time":"45–55 minutes","total_time":"About 1 hour 5 minutes","source_name":"Unattributed","created_at":"2026-07-30T23:13:09.597365Z","updated_at":"2026-07-30T23:15:40.458928Z","categories":["Main"],"tags":["Chickpeas","Curry","Eggplant","One-Pot","Stew","Vegan","White Beans"],"methods":["Stove-Top"],"themes":["Vegan","Vegetarian"],"ingredients":[{"section":"","items":["75ml (5 tbsp) neutral oil, divided (grapeseed or similar)","500g (1 large) eggplant, cut into 2cm (¾-inch) cubes","600g (2 large) red onions, finely chopped, 75g (about ½ cup) reserved raw for garnish","4 garlic cloves, finely chopped","5 bay leaves","5 tsp (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) curry powder","1 tsp ground cardamom","800g (1 × 28 oz can) chopped tomatoes","1.13kg (40 oz, about 2½ cans) chickpeas, rinsed and drained","425g (1 × 15 oz can) white kidney (cannellini) beans, rinsed and drained","1 tsp granulated sugar","480–600ml (2–2½ cups) water or vegetable broth","1 tsp (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more to taste","1 tsp ground black pepper, plus more to taste","52ml (3½ tbsp) distilled white vinegar","30g (about ½ cup) flat-leaf parsley, chopped"],"parsed":[{"raw":"75ml (5 tbsp) neutral oil, divided (grapeseed or similar)","qty":75,"unit":"ml","item":"neutral oil","prep":"divided"},{"raw":"500g (1 large) eggplant, cut into 2cm (¾-inch) cubes","qty":500,"unit":"g","item":"eggplant","prep":"cut into 2cm cubes"},{"raw":"600g (2 large) red onions, finely chopped, 75g (about ½ cup) reserved raw for garnish","qty":600,"unit":"g","item":"red onions","prep":"finely chopped, 75g reserved raw for garnish"},{"raw":"4 garlic cloves, finely chopped","qty":4,"item":"garlic cloves","prep":"finely chopped"},{"raw":"5 bay leaves","qty":5,"item":"bay leaves"},{"raw":"5 tsp (1 tbsp + 2 tsp) curry powder","qty":5,"unit":"tsp","item":"curry powder"},{"raw":"1 tsp ground cardamom","qty":1,"unit":"tsp","item":"ground cardamom"},{"raw":"800g (1 × 28 oz can) chopped tomatoes","qty":800,"unit":"g","item":"chopped tomatoes"},{"raw":"1.13kg (40 oz, about 2½ cans) chickpeas, rinsed and drained","qty":1.13,"unit":"kg","item":"chickpeas","prep":"rinsed and drained"},{"raw":"425g (1 × 15 oz can) white kidney (cannellini) beans, rinsed and drained","qty":425,"unit":"g","item":"white kidney beans","prep":"rinsed and drained"},{"raw":"1 tsp granulated sugar","qty":1,"unit":"tsp","item":"granulated sugar"},{"raw":"480–600ml (2–2½ cups) water or vegetable broth","qty":480,"qty_max":600,"unit":"ml","item":"water or vegetable broth"},{"raw":"1 tsp (3g) Diamond Crystal kosher salt, plus more to taste","qty":1,"unit":"tsp","item":"Diamond Crystal kosher salt","prep":"plus more to taste"},{"raw":"1 tsp ground black pepper, plus more to taste","qty":1,"unit":"tsp","item":"ground black pepper","prep":"plus more to taste"},{"raw":"52ml (3½ tbsp) distilled white vinegar","qty":52,"unit":"ml","item":"distilled white vinegar"},{"raw":"30g (about ½ cup) flat-leaf parsley, chopped","qty":30,"unit":"g","item":"flat-leaf parsley","prep":"chopped"}]}],"qc":{"status":"passed","last_checked_at":"2026-07-30T23:16:09.777493Z","checked_by":"claude-code","standard_version":"2026-07-30","findings_count":0,"stale":false}}