E for Eggplant in Coconut Gravy

Eggplant is my favorite vegetable and I can have it for all my meals. I never understood why some people don’t like it, but I guess I am heavily biased toward it. If I have to do an A-Z of vegetables, it’ll probably look like this:

A for Aubergine (German, UK)
B for Baingan (Hindi)
E for Eggplant (US)
K for Katharikai (Tamil)
M for Makhua (Malaysia)
T for Terong (Thai)
V for Vankaya (Telugu) and so on.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise if I submit “E for Eggplant in coconut gravy” for Nupur’s A-Z of Indian Vegetables series. I used Japanese eggplants, the skinny long ones. They taste sweeter than the large round eggplants.

Ingredients:
Japanese eggplants – 3, cut into match sticks
Red onions – 1 medium, thinly sliced
Green chilies – 3, chopped
Ginger – ½ tsp, minced
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped fine
Tomatoes – 2 ripe or ¼ cup tomato puree
Curry powder – 1 tsp
Coconut milk (light) – ½ cup
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Salt – to taste
Method:

• Heat a large non stick skillet, sauté the eggplant pieces in 1 tsp oil until nicely browned on all sides. I used non-stick spray and worked in batches so that the skillet is not crowded and all the pieces are browned evenly. Remove and keep aside.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in the same skillet, add onions, chilies, ginger and garlic and sauté till the onions are lightly browned.
• Add turmeric, tomatoes, curry powder and red chili powder, cover and cook till the tomatoes get mushy (or until the tomato puree doesn’t smell raw anymore).
  
• Add the fried eggplant pieces and 1 cup of water (use less if you don’t want your gravy to be runny), cover and cook for 5 -7 minutes until the eggplant pieces soak up the spices.
• Add coconut milk, salt and cook for about 3 more minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with steaming hot rice.
  

Rice with Eggplant Curry and Lemon-Ginger pickle (Priya)