Experimenting with Aubergine

In my last post I mentioned the food that I have brought back in my luggage.  Indeed, a big challenge I have faced in Sierra Leone is cooking.   There is a lack of variety in the food available.  In particular, I find the lack of variety in vegetables frustrating.  Every week I have a bag of vegetables delivered.  Unlike with my Able and Cole box in the UK there is no anticipation around what I shall find.  It is always the same:

White cabbage

Carrots

Green Beans

Cucumber

Tomatoes

Aubergine

White radish

Lettuce

Spring Onions

Mint

Parsley

If I go to the market I can, depending on the season, add the following to the list:

Irish potatoes

Sweet potatoes

Onions

Pumpkin/squash

Courgette (it’s not really the same)

Green peppers

Chillis

Garlic

Ginger

Looking at the lists it seems a fair variety but it’s not!  I struggle to find new ways to cook aubergines (hence the post title)and cabbage.  Luckily I have access to the internet and so Abel and Cole’s website which has been a godsend for ideas.  Ideas, as with aubergine,where  I often run into the same problem. The first words of the recipe are “preheat the oven to 200 degrees” but i don’t have an oven I only have two gas rings! 

That all said I do seem to have developed a signature dish – caponata (Sicilian aubergine stew).  Only issue is that it requires harrisa paste but no problem currently as three jars found their way into my luggage.

So if you come to visit you know what to expect as your first meal!