Ginger Lime couscous with Red beans and Tandoori Roasted Eggplant

This recipe morphed from leftovers. It was originally ginger lime couscous with red beans.  But got revamped the next day with the addition of vinegar cucumbers and roasted tandoori eggplant. This is a simple dish but takes many steps, all of which are also simple.

Ingredients.

o    1 ½ cups couscous

o    Chicken stock,

o    Lime juice,

o    Lime zest,

o    Fresh ginger,

o    Red kidney beans,

o    Eggplant,

o    1 half cucumber,

o    2 oz feta cheese

o    Red wine vinegar,

o    Salt.

o    Pepper,

o    Olive oil,

o    Tandoori seasoning

Preheat oven to 400º

Cucumbers in red wine vinegar.

Using about half of a cucumber, peel the cucumber partially or fully, which ever you like. I like the stripes of peeling every other “space”, as it were. Slice into thin, small pieces. Place into a small dish, sprinkle with salt and pepper, splash on a few tablespoons of red wine vinegar and allow to sit in the fridge for at least 30 mins

Eggplant

Drizzle sheet pan with olive oil, sprinkle salt, pepper and tandoori seasoning onto the oil.

Slice eggplant lengthwise into about inch thick slices. Place two slices of eggplant on the pan, then repeat the drizzling and sprinkling. Turn to coat.  Roast in the oven for about 30 minutes, turning half way through. The eggplant should caramelize and become quite tender. When it’s done, set it aside.

Couscous-

Measure out the amount of couscous you wish to prepare, pour it into a bowl large enough to accommodate the volume doubling. Then in a saucepan, bring to a boil the liquid of choice in the correct amount corresponding with the volume of couscous. I used chicken stock and lime juice in this recipe. Mean while zest the lime into the couscous and add a few slices of peeled fresh ginger root. Once the liquid has come to a boil remove from heat and poor over the couscous. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes. Once all of the liquid is absorbed fluff with a fork. Then add in the red kidney beans.

When the eggplant is cool enough to touch chop into bite size piece and add to the couscous.

Right before serving, drain the excess liquid from the cucumbers and add to the couscous as well. Gently combine everything with a fork. The couscous should not be clumpy. You are looking for an over all light fluffy texture but the couscous will stick to the bits of eggplant.