Pseudo Middle Eastern Inspired Anti-Potato Salad

I was craving a potato salad the other day, but wasn't in the mood for potatos. So I substituted potato with chickpeas, and then for some weird reason, I decided to drag in a few other middle-easterny type ingredients like eggplant and fresh figs.

This is a large serving of salad which could serve 4-6, depending on whether you eat it on it's own, or as a side.

Ingredients:

1 can (approx 400g?) chickpeas, drained
1 large eggplant, cubed
1 large red capsicum, diced roughly
1 tablespoon allspice
1 tablespoon nutmeg
1 generous serving of mint leaves, chopped.
3-4 tablespoons of Greek style yoghurt
1 lemon
olive oil
4 figs (preferably, dark fleshed)

Method:

1. Put the chickpeas and chunks of capsicum into a large bowl.


2. In a pan, stir fry the eggplant in olive oil. Add the nutmeg and allsprice and continue frying until tender.
   


3. Add the eggplant into the large bowl.


4. Add the yoghurt and squeeze some lemon juice into the bowl. Mix through the salad.


5. Mix in the freshly chopped mint leaves
   


6. Top the salad with fig halves.
   


7. Serve.
   

Tips:

I try to put the mint leaves in towards the end, when the salad mixture has slightly cooled down. This is because mint leaves have a tendency to go dark and mushy when exposed to direct heat.