Ethiopian black eyed peas and spicy tomato eggplant

I experimented today and made a Marcus Samuelsson recipe: https://marcussamuelsson.com/recipe/black-eyed-peas-with-coconut-milk-and-berbere

I did make some minor tweaks to each of these recipes.

• I wanted more spice for the black eyed peas so I used the full habanero, seeds and ribs, for more heat in my half sized batch. I also kept the same amount of aromatics and spice despite making half, the spicing looked a little light for my palette. 🥲. I could have added a little more chilies. But this was delicious, not perfectly Mediterranean friendly using coconut milk and butter. But it is not much over an entire recipe. I also added some chard to add some extra greens to my plate!

• I made a half batch of the tomatoes and eggplant but kept the spicing about the same. Subbing some of the cayenne for some Thai chilies. I skipped the sugar. I rarely feel the need to add any sweetener to tomatoes and mine were in season ones. I used olive oil.

This combo was nice because the because the black eyed peas were earthy and a bit sweet with the coconut milk. The eggplant and tomato had a bit more of a sour note and was lightly cooked with firm eggplant for a crispier texture.

100% recommend, and it is vegan friendly with minor changes to the black eyed peas (subs for broth and butter).

Making the recipe as noted though definitely gave off more Ethiopian vibes since many dishes do use butter or ghee to add some richness.