Vegan Eggplant Curry with Roasted Chickpeas and Ginger Fruit Tea

Indian flavors are some of my favorite to cook with. I love chutneys and curries and lots of spice. So today i decided to make something spicy and something sweet to drink to accompany it.

Iced tea is a Summer staple, and the perfect thing to go with a spicy dish. The best iced tea is made with a lot flavor, and real fruit juice is the best way to get it. For my iced tea I used Yogi Ginger tea, but any ginger tea base would work fine.

Ginger Fruit Tea-

• 2 bags ginger tea
• juice form 1 large grapefruit
• juice from 2 kiwis
• juice from 1 lime
• (optional) 1/4 cup simple syrup or other sweetener

I brewed my tea for a few hours before simply juicing the fruit in my juicer and mixing it all in a pitcher and adding some sweetener. It's a really nice refreshing drink.

Roasted Chickpeas-

• 2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp chili powder

Preheat oven to 250. Drain and rinse chickpeas and then toss with the seasoning and olive oil. Then set aside until the oven is ready. When it is, spread the chickpeas on a baking sheet and cook for 45 minutes. 

Eggplant Curry

• 1/2 a large eggplant, diced
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 2 bell peppers, diced
• 1 can diced tomato
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 2 cups water
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp curry powder
• 2 tbsp salt
• 2 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp fennel seeds

This is the easiest recipe. Chop the veggies, measure the spices, open the cans, and toss it all in a nice big soup pot and simmer on medium for an hour. Best served over jasmine rice.