Ganachi porani

Today was a day off, dedicated to recharging and acupuncture. Apparently I'm a 'stressy person'.

To say goodbye to forgetting about lunch time, I made an aubergine stew today - ganachi porani. Armenian recipe. This is it, in the making. Needless to say, there's not much left of it.

One day, Nasretin Hoça climbed into a neighbour's garden and started filling a sack with onions, aubergines, courgettes, radishes - in short, every vegetable he could lay his hands on. The neighbour's son saw him and called his father, who came running - followed by wife, children, dog, cat, cockerel, hen and chicks.

'What are you doing, Hoça?'

'I was blown over by a mighty wind.'

'And who uprooted the vegetables?'

'I caught hold of them to stop myself from being swept along.'

'What is the explanation for all these vegetables in your sack?'

'Funny you should ask that, neighbour! That is just what Iwas wondering about when you interrupted me.'

... from Arto de Haroutunian's Vegetarian Dishes from the Middle East