A smoky curry made with roasted mashed eggplant and a base of tomato-onion-masalas.
Main dish for: 4 people. Prep Time: 60 minutes. Cook Time: 30 minutes. Note: pay attention to whether recipe asks for seeds, powder, or leaves – it matters. Also for this dish, prep time can be done while cooking for this dish because the eggplant will take a while to roast.
Ingredients:
- 2-3 eggplants (2 cups worth)
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 inch ginger, grated
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1/2 cup coriander leaves, chopped
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 tsp jeera (cumin) seeds
- 2 pieces green cardamom
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 dried red chili
- 1/4 tsp red chili powder (optional)
- 1/2 tsp haldi (turmeric) powder
- 1 tsp dhaniya (coriander) powder
- lemon juice and salt to taste
The Process:
- Put the eggplants to roast in the oven at 350° F. You can choose to roast them on the stove top to achieve the smokiness, but oven works perfectly fine too. Keep the stems intact; this way, it won’t fall apart until it’s time to mash. In the meantime chop your ginger, garlic, onion cilantro, and tomatoes.
2. Heat the oil in a wok and when hot, put jeera seeds, cardamom (pro tip: slit them to better release flavors), bay leaf, and dried red chili.
3. Then put garlic and ginger into this. After a bit of sautéing this, put in the chopped onions.
4. Once the onions are light pink and soft, add haldi, dhaniya, and (optional) red chili powders. Continue to sauté until onions are well done.
5. Add the chopped tomatoes and ~two-thirds of the dhaniya leaves. The rest will be used towards the end as more of a garnish.
6. Next, check if the eggplant is roasted (will happen closer to the 1 hour mark). The skin should be wrinkled, and the inside should be soft. If done, peel off the skin while keeping the stem intact. If it still needs more time, turn off heat on the tomato-onion-masala base.
7. Finally, cut off the step, and use a masher to mash all the eggplants separate from the base.
8. Stir the mashed up eggplant in the tomato-onion-masala base well. Let some of the water evaporate as the flavors of the two mix together. Add lemon juice and salt to taste and bring to desired consistency — some like it drier, some like it more soupy.
9. Plate it and serve hot with some rice, naan, or roti. Enjoy!!
