I made vegan chilli!

Reading that troll article from the Independent and seeing the post on here about it reminded me - a few weeks ago I bought some small aubergines to make a Thai Green Curry. Then my wife says she doesn't want coconut milk because she's on a diet. So what am I gonna do with these mini aubergines?

Then I found this recipe and thought the idea of charring them would be great:
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/burnt-aubergine-veggie-chilli

I can't actually remember a day when I've not eaten meat or fish for at least one meal. And I was tempted to add beef mince to the above recipe. But I stuck to it and while my chilli game is strong, this was seriously the best chilli I've ever made. First I've ever made on a BGE. 

Rich, smokey and delicious. Could easily fool someone into thinking it was meat because the texture of the aubergine, kidney beans and lentils was meaty. Naturally I just thought that next time, it will probably be even better with some meat! And I'm sure it's the Egg that's helped here because gravy from the BGE is amazing so I'm sure the sauce soaked up the smoke here too. Why has it taken me so long to cook pot dishes on the BGE?

I forget what wood I used. Think it was hickory. 



Direct heat at approx 180c to blacken them. And then peel off and dispose of skin, before chopping them up. 



The photos i took at the end weren't great. But here goes