Beef Stifado With Eggplant

This stifado also contains eggplant and is really delicious and savory. I got it off a Danish recipe site, www.dk-kogebogen.dk, so some of the amounts may seem a bit strange, since they're converted from the metric system.

• Ready In: 1 hr 32 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1  eggplant
• 17  ounces boneless beef cubes
• 2  garlic cloves
• 2  teaspoons cumin
• 1  cinnamon stick
• 7⁄8 cup red wine
• 1 (14 ounce) can chopped tomatoes
• 1⁄4 lemon (preferably organic)
• 7⁄8 cup  beef stock
• 10 1⁄2 ounces small onion
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
•  sugar
•  pepper

Directions

1. Fry the beef thoroughly, adding spices and chopped garlic at the end. Add cinnamon, red wine, tomatoes, lemon slices and beef stock and leave to simmer for one hour with the lid off.
2. While the beef is simmering, prepare the vegetables.
3. The eggplant is diced and sprinkled with salt, to draw out fluid and bitter taste. It should stand for 20-30 minutes and then be thoroughly rinsed in water. Dry the diced eggplant in a clean dish towel and toss them with olive oil and a little pepper. Spread the diced eggplant on a plate and put in the oven at 200 degrees celcius untill golden brown.
4. Fry the small onions in oil untill golden.
5. After the beef has simmered for an hour, add the eggplant and onions and boil for another ten minutes.
6. Adjust the taste, using a little sugar, salt and pepper, and serve on rice.