Even those who do not like eggplants have enjoyed my stuffed eggplant curry, great if you want to impress guests with something new and exciting, looks great and tastes even better.
Ingredients- for about 3 to 4 persons
For Stuffing & Sauce
10 baby eggplants (washed)
80 ml of fresh tomatoes (washed & blended to produce thick juice)
1 large onion
4 large cloves of garlic
100 grams of cashew nuts or peanuts (unsalted, grinded to a medium powder texture)
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon cumin powder
¼ teaspoon turmeric powder
1 teaspoon red chili powder
Salt to taste (preferably sea salt)
Brown Sugar to taste (I substitute for a few drops of natrena)
Juice of ½ a lemon
½ teaspoon fresh ginger paste (optional)
For Vaghar
1 tablespoon cornflower oil
2 Bay leaves
1 large cinnamon stick
4 cloves
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 large dried chili
½ teaspoon compounded asafetida
For Garnishing
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves
Instructions
Preparations
Blend altogether the ingredients for the stuffing & sauce. Set aside.
Prepare each eggplant by cutting the eggplant lengthwise but not all the way through. The eggplant should remain intact.
Stuff each eggplant with a few spoons of the stuffing. The remaining stuffing will be used as a sauce (so now we will call this sauce).
To Cook
Heat the oil in a large nonstick saucepan or wok.
Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if seed cracks right away oil is ready.
Turn the heat down a little.
Add the remaining vaghar ingredients. Watch the oil does not spit back at you.
Pour in ½ of the sauce (remaining stuffing).
Mix a little using a wooden spoon.
Lay out the stuffed eggplants in single layer (where possible) in the sauce pan.
Pour over the top all remaining sauce.
Cover the sauce pan and cook for about 30 minutes on low heat. Cook for longer if required.
You may want to give the content a gentle stir every 10 minutes to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the sauce pan.
Switch the heat off (If you’re like my partner, you may forget to do this).
To Serve
Transfer the curry into your desired serving dish.
Sprinkle over the top the chopped coriander leaves.
Serve with basmati rice and/or Indian bread (chapatti or naan)