I’ve heard it said that cravings are the body’s way of telling you that you need a particular nutrient. It kind of makes sense to me from an anecdotal point of view, as pretty much every time I’ve been away for a weekend in Germany, mostly for stag do’s, I’ve always had a craving for raw vegetables & salad, probably to counter the vast quantities of meat & booze consumed. I therefore couldn’t really work out why I had a craving for Aubergine. Maybe my body was telling me I should start smoking again, considering my newly found knowledge that aubergine contains Nicotine. Then again, maybe not.

Anyway, I fancied a stew due to the recent drop in temperature and found this one, that took my fancy, at least for a starting point, anyway.

Spicy Lamb & Aubergine Stew (serves 3-4):

350g Lamb (I used shoulder) 

1 large aubergine

2 cloves garlic

1 red onion

Glug vegetable or groundnut oil

Splash of balsamic vinegar (I used Pedro Ximenez Balsamic)

Tin of tomatoes

2 Tbsp ground cumin (use less if you prefer less heat)

1 pint of lamb stock.

Small pot natural yoghurt

10 mint leaves

Cut the lamb into about inch size chunks and fry in the oil until browned. Remove and set aside. Finely chop the onion & garlic and fry in the same pan for a few minutes, before adding the aubergine, which you need to chop into similar size chunks to the lamb.  Cook the aubergine for about 5 minutes, then add the cumin, cook for a further couple of minutes to take the rawness from the spice, then add the vinegar, tomatoes, lamb & lamb stock. Cover with a lid and put on a low heat for about an hour or when the lamb is meltingly tender.

Mix the yoghurt with the mint. Serve the stew in bowls with crusty bread and add a dollop of the yoghurt mint mixture.

Having used quite a large amount of cumin gave the stew quite a deep and slow burning heat, spice wise, which I really liked. The vinegar gave a nice little tang and the aubergine a nice smokiness that gave a fantastically more-ish flavour. The yoghurt & mint I thought wasn’t that great a condiment, until I let the heat of the stew wilt the mint, which really made it work and added another level to the stew. I loved it!