Ailazan

This is a traditional Armenian dish. It is a thick vegetable stew.

* 1 lb eggplant
* 1 lb potato (we used small red potatoes)
* 1 onion
* 100 g oil (I think that came to about 1/2 cup of oil when we used our kitchen scale)
* 3 vine ripened tomatoes
* 1 cup green beans
* 1 red bell pepper
* 1 cup of fresh spices (basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley)
* a bit of chopped garlic
* ground black pepper
* ground red pepper
* salt
* 1/2 cup water

1. Slice the eggplant finely, put a little bit of salt over each piece, then leave it to sit for 15 minutes. Squeeze out the extra juice. (We pressed them with paper towels.)
2. Slice the other vegetables finely & mince the spices.
3. Put the vegetables in a deep pot in layers, beginning with the eggplant on the bottom. Sprinkle every layer with spices including some salt.
4. Pour the oil & the water over top of the vegetables. Cover. Cook on low heat until done. (We cooked the stew on "2" for 1 hour & 45 minutes-- it turned out perfectly.)

Note: A lot of water will cook out of the vegetables, so dont worry that it doesn't seem like enough water at first.