Crockpot Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Garbanzo Beans

I don’t use the crockpot as often as I probably should, but it came in handy last night when I had a meeting around the time I’d normally be making dinner. Around 3:30 in the afternoon, I started chopping vegetables, and by 3:45, Crockpot Eggplant and Tomato Stew with Garbanzo Beans was in the crockpot and cooking.

The recipe makes a lot. This is how filled my large-ish crockpot was:

I did use a whole can of kidney beans instead of the cup called for, but even with the recommended amount of beans called for, this is a large recipe and would overfill a smaller crockpot.

In addition to increasing the kidney beans, I also increased the seasonings near the end of the cooking time; around here, we like our food highly seasoned! But the biggest change is in the cooking time. I let it cook for the full 4 hours on high, and it was still undercooked. I had to scoop out about half of it, put that into a microwavable dish, and nuke it for 5 minutes because we were starving. I think 5-6 hours on high is probably more accurate.

Overall, we liked this. I think my husband liked it the most, which surprised him. He was hoping for Vindaloo Vegetables and was disappointed that I’d made something different, but he said he’d give it about 8 out of 10. I give it about a 6. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, and I’d eat it again, but there wasn’t anything special about it either.

My daughter, well, she said she liked only the beans and chickpeas. She’s not a big fan of eggplant, but she did eat a small bowl of it (before asking for dessert, a banana). It’s probably a 4 or a 5 for her.

I served this with a large salad. Simple meal, but filling.