Curry eggplant with potatoes

En Español

T panics with the idea of having to eat something that has been in the fridge for more than three days. In his defense, I must say that is understandable. His mom, my beloved mother-in-law, believes that all foods are natural sources of penicillin from the fungi they grow. She does not see any downside to eating a dose of "antibiotics" produced by some product of her refrigerator. So, in order to contribute to my husband’s sanity, I decided it was time to cook the eggplants I bought a couple of visits-to-the-grocery- store ago. I didn’t want T to have to face his childhood fears with a not-so –fresh eggplant.

I found this recipe in the book "How to Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman. I have prepared it a couple of times. From the first time I cooked it, it’s been delicious, which makes me feel happy, competent, intelligent; an expert ... finally a recipe I cannot screw up! This time was no exception. T loved it, but to my surprise, when he tasted it he said it was very hot. Very hot for a character who pickles Peruvian chilies in garlic! I guess it was spicy.


The ingredients I used were:

2 medium eggplants,
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon mustard seeds,
½ teaspoon dried ground chili (cayenne),
½ tsp turmeric (turmeric)
2 tablespoons parsley, crushed seeds (coriander)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon ginger, peeled and chopped
2 tablespoons sliced garlic,
4 tablespoons butter
1 can diced tomatoes,
1 cup water
6 potatoes cut into small cubes, and pepper.

The original recipe calls for 3 large tomatoes, cored, peeled, seeded and chopped, plus oil, canola or neutral. I didn’t have these, so I used olive oil and a can of diced tomatoes.

What I did:

The first thing I did was to peel two medium eggplants, cut them into slices and salt them to remove the excess moisture and the bitter liquid. When they were ready, I washed and cut them into cubes.

One thing I learned preparing this dish is that curry is not a spice in itself but a mixture of several spices. For this recipe I mixed 1 / 2 teaspoon cayenne, 1 / 2 teaspoon turmeric, 2 teaspoons of crushed coriander and 1 tablespoon of cumin.

I also got 1 tablespoon mustard seeds ready.

Once I had all the ingredients ready, I took 1 tablespoon of olive oil in large saucepan (5.5 qt/5.2 lt) and mustard seeds, and cooked them over medium heat until the seeds began to pop.

When the seeds were ready, I threw in the spice mixture, 1 tablespoon chopped ginger, 2 tablespoons sliced garlic and a good chunk of butter - about 4 tablespoons, stirring occasionally, until the ginger and garlic were soft and formed a paste, around 5 minutes.

Then I added the eggplants, potatoes, salt and pepper and mixed all ingredients for the seasoning paste to cover the potatoes and eggplant in an even way. Finally, I added the tomatoes and the cup of water to the saucepan. I reduced the heat to medium low, covered the pan and let it cook for half an hour, stirring occasionally. Then, I removed the lid so the excess liquid evaporated, let it cook for another 15 minutes, and made sure the eggplant and potatoes were soft ... and voila! I served it to T.

To my regret, this photo does not do any justice to my great work putting together the ingredients; it’s not a good photo, but it was the best. Besides cooking now I have to learn to take pictures!