This is a #VeganAwesome curry. It looks and tastes great - so good it could be restaurant fare. There are a number of small steps, but it is actually really easy to make, and worthwhile. This dish is guaranteed to put any other Indian dish on the table into the shadows! Hope you enjoy it.
Ingredients:
4 cloves of garlic
4 cm piece of ginger
1/2 bunch of fresh coriander (15g)
2 fresh/dried red chillis
1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, mustard seeds, ground turmeric, garam masala, fenugreek seeds
1 big handful of fresh curry leaves
Sunflower oil
2 heaped tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon mango chutney
2 tablespoons tamarind paste (or tamarind sauce with mango chutney)
4-5 aubergines
1 x 400g tin of light coconut milk
250g ripe cherry tomatoes (red or mixed in colour)
Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5
Peel the onion, garlic and ginger - place them, along with the fresh coriander and fresh/dried chillies, into a food processor and blend them together until they are a fine paste.
Then heat a little oil in the base of an oven proof sauteuse pan, and put the dpices and curry leaves into the pan. Heat for 1 minute until all the spicy aromas are released but they are not burnt.
Add the paste, and stir. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add in the peanut butter, mango chutney and tamarind paste (or tamarind and chutney sauce), with some sea salt and black pepper. Add a little water to loosen the paste. Heat through gently and turn off the heat. Put the sauce into a bowl and clean the sauteuse pan.
Now prepare the aubergines.
Halve each aubergine lengthways down the middle. Take the first half aubergine and place it on a chopped board flesh side down. Take two wooden spoons, and lay each one either side of the aubergine, so the long handles are running closely alongside the side of the aubergine - tight to it. Now cut the aubergine cross ways into slices, but not going all the way through the aubergine. The spoon handles stop you cutting right down to the board.
You will find you have half an aubergine that fans out into slices. Do this for each half aubergine. Once you have cut all the aubergines into fan shapes like this, put all the aubergines flesh down into the clean sauteuse pan. Add a couple of tablespoons of water, and turn on the heat. Cover with a lid. Bring the heat up, and leave to simmer and steam for 5 minutes, to soften the skin of the aubergine.
Take the aubergines out of the pan and lay aside on a plate.
Now stuff the aubergines with the spicy paste you made earlier. Spoon a teaspoon or so of the paste into each sliced opening in the aubergines. When you have used up all the paste and filled all the sliced aubergines like this, place them base down into the sauteuse pan (emptying any residue water first).
Add the coconut milk and the tomatoes all chopped up, and season well with salt and pepper. Bring to the boil. Cover with the lid, and roast in the oven for 40 minutes. Scatter over some fresh chopped coriander and serve with rice or naan bread.
Inspired by: Jamie Oliver - Veg