My Favourite Vegetables
Eggplant is also called aubergine or Brinjal. It is a popular vegetable in most countries. It’s is mostly eaten fresh but the fruits can also be sliced and dried, and stored for later use. It has a white flesh with a fine meaty texture and taste close to mushrooms The raw fruit has a somewhat bitter taste, but becomes tender when cooked and develops a rich, complex flavour, attributed to the saponins. Eggplant has the ability of absorbing cooking oils and sauces, resulting in very rich and savoury dishes.
I had this for lunch on Friday, with steamed basmati rice. It was very filling. I hope this recipe will also appeal to you. Have a great week, ahead.
Please always assemble ingredients before you start
Melt the ghee or add oil to a heavy based pan over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic and cinnamon stick and fry gently until soft.
Add tomatoes and continue cooking over medium low heat for about 5 minutes.
Add coriander, cumin, chilli and, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a further 3 minutes.
Add the eggplant
and stir gently until coated with the sauce.
Stir in coconut milk and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15-30 minutes or until eggplant is tender and sauce is thickened. Check seasoning. (I simmered mine for 15 minutes, it still had a bit of crunch).
Stir in coriander just before serving.
Serve
S with chapati or tandoori or as a side dish.
I served mine with steamed basmati rice for lunch. It was the best lunch I had this week!
Spicy Eggplant with Coconut Milk
Preparation time: 15 minutes; Cooking time: 50 minutes; Serves: 4-6 sides
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons ghee or extra virgin olive oil (I added 3)
- 1 large onion, quartered and sliced
- 4 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 2-inch piece cinnamon stick, broken into 3
- 1 cup diced tomatoes (Use good quality canned tomatoes. I used Molisana); or 500g (1.1 Ib Italian tomatoes, peeled and chopped)
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon chilli powder or chilli flakes
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 450g (1Ib) eggplant chopped into1inch pieces
- 250ml (1 cup) coconut milk
- 1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves (cilantro), chopped
Instructions
- Melt the ghee or add oil in a heavy based pan over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic and cinnamon stick and fry gently until soft.
- Add tomatoes and continue cooking over medium low heat for about 5 minutes.
- Add coriander, cumin, chilli and, salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a further 3 minutes.
- Add the eggplants and stir gently until coated with the sauce.
- Stir in coconut milk and bring to the boil. Simmer for 15-30 minutes or until eggplant is tender and sauce is thickened. Check seasoning. Serve hot with rice or chapati or tandoori or as a side dish. (I simmered mine for 15 minutes, it still had a bit of crunch).
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Thank you for this delicious recipe!!!
No problem. Thank you for the feedback!!!
Liz
This looks and sounds absolutely delicious! Love all of those spices with coconut milk.
Thank you. Tastes really good and I’m having it now for lunch….
Liz
I love all the ingredients, Liz. I bet this tastes really good.
It does taste really nice. I love coconut milk!
Liz
Hi Liz!
How are you?
We are feeling super hot due to the extreme heat, here in Indonesia
(meanwhile, my grand aunt in China is suffering from low temperature! how different the weather is from one place to another!)
In Indonesia, Eggplant is often sliced thinly and then fried with flour batter.
It is also cooked as curry, tauco (spicy dish containing fermented soy bean) and rendang (very spicy coconut milk gravy).
Most popularly, it is deep fried (whole) in oil, and then served with sambal balado, which is a very spicy chili sauce from West Sumatra. 😀
Hi Hari,
I love eggplant fried in batter but I’ve not tasted the one with fermented soy bean or the rendang. I don’t eat a lot of chilli. Mine is always rather mild.
I wonder what the deep fried whole eggplant looks and tastes like. Does it absorb a lot of oil during frying? Thanks so much for giving me so much information. i shall add it to the article on Eggplant. Have a great week, Hari.
Liz
Rendang Eggplant and Balado Eggplant are West Sumatran cuisine. They can be quite oily (and super spicy). It is not something I would eat a lot (or in the morning) 😀
Surprisingly, they are very popular!
I guess I am one of those “milder” chili eaters, especially compared to most Indonesians. 😀
I am super busy because Chinese New Year is almost here! XD
I hope you have a wonderful week!
Oh yes, Hari, I saw on news, many Chinese are stranded, at the railway stations, because everyone wants to be with family during the Chinese New Year.
You know everybody likes oily things. They always taste better. Wish you all the best during the New Year planning. Have a wonderful week, too!
Liz
Hi, Liz!
The “go back to hometown” tradition is a part of Chinese New Year Tradition.
It has been quite problematic in China, which is a very heavily populated country. There will always be illegal passengers, which are those who are too late to pre-order the train tickets.
I hope they find solution for this soon!
Today is the first day of Spring in our traditional Chinese Calendar. I hope this new spring brings better EVERYTHING! A more peaceful and prosperous year would do! 😀
Lucky you. I wish I could hear the spring bells tolling here as well. We’ve had a mild winter this year, so I shouldn’t really complain.
I wish you all the best Hari, and a peaceful, prosperous year, as you wish. Take care!
Liz
This looks delicious. We just had eggplant last week and this may have to be our next eggplant meal. Ewan absolutely loves eggplant!
I absolutely love eggplant too. I could literally eat it everyday without getting tired. I really loved this recipe.
My son is here today and he’s vegetarian so guess what’s for dinner tonight? eggplant, yeah!!! Have a great week!
liz
Wow, this looks wonderful, Liz! Eggplant is one of my favourite veggies, and I am always looking for amazing new ways to eat it! Thanks for this recipe!
Hi Chef Julianna
You should try this one. It’s one of the best dishes I had last week. I really enjoyed it and I’m planning a repeat. Have a wonderful week!
liz
I’ve never seen a recipe like this one Liz – I can’t wait to try it. Therefore, I’m printing it out immediately! How’s the weather where you live? We didn’t get any snow here in Western Massachusetts!
Mmm it’s very cold but we haven’t had any snow in days, which is great. Taking a break from the last shovelling…took me an hour. I hope you’ll ffind time to try the recipe. Enjoy the week!
Liz
Beautiful eggplant curry Liz! Absolutely loved the flavors!!
Thank you, Sonal. Means a lot coming from curry specialist like you. Great week!
Liz
Have a wonderful week 🙂
Thank you!
Liz