Aubergine Curry
The tamarind takes this recipe from great to sublime
Makes enough for: 4 people
Ingredients
- 125 mls water
- 15 g tamarind
- 75 mls olive oil, divided
- 2 aubergines (about 400g), trimmed, chopped into chunks
- salt to season
- 30 mls all purpose curry paste
- 6 dried curry leaves, finely chopped
- 1 onion, peeled, cut in half and finely diced
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed
- 1 cm fresh root ginger, peeled and cubed
- 800 g tinned tomatoes
- 30 mls coconut sugar
- 5 g fresh coriander, roughly chopped
- yoghurt to serve if needed
Method
- Place the water into a small bowl, add the tamarind and set aside
- Place 15mls olive oil into a large frying pan and heat over a medium to high temperature
- Add half of the aubergines and fry, seasoning with salt as you turn them
- Once nicely golden brown, remove from the pan and set aside
- Heat another 15mls of oil and fry the rest of the aubergines and set aside
- Heat the rest of the oil and add the curry paste and curry leaves
- When fragrant, lower the temperature slightly, add the onion and sauté until soft
- Add the garlic and ginger and sauté until fragrant
- Add the tomatoes, and break them up as soon as they start cooking
- Add the tamarind and the water used to soften the tamarind as well as the coconut sugar
- Give it a good stir and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Add the aubergine and leave to cook for another 15 minutes
- Adjust the seasoning, garnish with the coriander and serve
- Add yoghurt if you find the curry too hot (which I did)
Notes
* I added chicken to the leftovers as we only had half on the first night