• 1 aubergine (eggplant), cut into 1.5 cm / 0.5” cubes
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• 400g or 1 can cooked chickpeas
• 1 cup (150g) cherry tomatoes, halved
• 4 tablespoons tomato paste (look for sugar free varieties)
• ½ cup veggie broth or water
• 1 bunch beetroot greens, leaves chopped and stems discarded
• 1 lemon, juiced
• Coconut oil, for cooking
• Chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves, to serve
• Cooked quinoa, rice, or millet, to serve

1. Start by placing your chopped aubergine (eggplant) in a colander over a bowl or sink and tossing with the 1 teaspoon salt. Leave to “sweat” for 30 minutes then rinse and pat dry before using. This is optional, but helps get rid of any bitterness and also keeps it from getting soggy and oily in the pan. If you’re short for time or your aubergine is small and fresh, skip it.*
2. Heat ½ tablespoon of coconut oil in a large skillet and cook your onions over medium-low heat until softened. Add your garlic and spices and cook for a further minute before adding in your aubergine (eggplant), chickpeas, cherry tomatoes, and tomato paste along with ½ cup water or broth.
3. Simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until the aubergine (eggplant) is tender. If the stew still looks too water-y let cook uncovered for a few minutes until liquid reduces.
4. Stir in your beet greens and lemon juice and take off the heat, letting the residual heat wilt the leaves.
5. Taste and adjust any seasoning.
6. Serve hot with some cooked quinoa, extra slices of lemon, and the chopped coriander (cilantro) leaves.

I just finished reading a book called Still Alice and I have never cried so much reading a book in my entire life. Poor Maths dude had to comfort me a lot. It’s a fictional story about a 50-year-old Harvard psychology professor who is diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s disease, and Claudia recommended it to me, but I imagine her reading it and maintaining at least a small degree of medical interest and objectiveness next to me just being completely inconsolable over everything. You feel like you’re in Alice’s head a lot of the time, and since I already told you the book is about Alzheimer’s, it’s probably not a spoiler to say that it’s heartbreaking to read about the all-too-quick degradation of Alice’s cognitive abilities.

I’m sooo damn proud of these veg-ified scotch eggs!

Wait, if you’ve never had a scotch egg before, let me explain. Boiled egg, coated in sausage, coated in breadcrumbs, deep-fried. Normally, the egg is hard-boiled, but I like it to be a teeny bit runny in the middle still. That’s actually super easy to achieve with this recipe, because you don’t really have to fry the scotch eggs for too long since there is no meat to cook thoroughly. So the middles of the eggs stay nice and tender!

I’ve tried to stay true to a proper scotchie at least on the flavourings front, opting for dijon, onion and dried herbs to flavour the chickpea mixture, but I think it could be nice with falafel-style flavourings, like coriander and lemon, etc. I will be trying that next time! We’ve already broken the rules by omitting the sausage mince, so what the heck?!

PS It’s not too late to join the pulses party. Throughout April, as part of our Cook Better project, Josie and I are trying to incorporate pulses into our recipes as much as possible and see how creative we can get with them! Join us and tag your pics on Instagram – #CBpulses!