Recipe: Creamy roasted eggplant

[Guest guest]

I made this last weekend while I tried to cope with the disappointment of

not being named the world's sexiest vegetarian by PETA. Well, there is

always next year. The source of this dish is a little book that accompanied

an Indian Spice kit that a friend gave me. It uses cream so obviously is

not vegan friendly but I really enjoyed it.

 

I will post the actual recipe per the book. I did a slight modification in

that I used a zucchini instead of one of the eggplants (the zuchinni went

from the garden to the grill, you can't get fresher then that outside of

eating it while it is still attached to the vine) I also grilled the

eggplant and zucchini on the bbq instead of roasting in the oven. More

flavour and it doesn't heat the house up, a big concern in the summer.

 

The Indian name of the recipe is Malai Wala Bhuna Baigan.

 

serves 6 to 8 (per the book, I could eat the whole thing )

 

2 large egglant (about 3 lbs)

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1-2 jalapeno chilies, coarsely chopped.

3 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped.

1-1/2 inch piece fresh giner, peeled and coarsely chopped.

1/2 large onion, peeled and coarsely chopped.

2 tablespoons lemon juice

4 plum tomotoes, diced

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon cumin (ground)

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon shahi masala (see below)

1/4 cup cream

1/4 cup fresh cilantro coarsely chopped.

 

Preheat oven to 450F Cut eggplant in half. Using 1 tablespoon of the oil

brush the cut side of the eggplant. Place each eggplant, cut side down on a

greased baking sheet. Place in oven until eggplant tender, about 30

minutes. Set aside to cool. While the eggplant is cooling, place the

chilies, garlic, ginger, onion and lemon juice in a blender and puree into a

paste. Set aside.

 

Scoop the flesh from the eggplant into a medium bowl and whip with a fork

into a rough puree. See aside.

 

in a large skillet, heat the remaining oil over a medium high heat, add the

onion-garlic paste and saute 3 minutes. Add a little water if necessary to

prevent sticking. Add the tomatoes, turmeric, cumin and salt, saute for 5

minutes. Add the eggplant puree to the mixture and heat through, about 3

minutes. Stir in the shahi masala, cream and cilantro and cook for 1

minute. Remove from hear, transfer to a serving dish and serve garnished

with lime wedges.

 

Shari Masala

 

yields 3 tablespoons

 

12 whole green cardamon pods

1/8 teaspoon of cardamon seeds (seeds from approximately 5 green cardamon

pods)

1 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

2 dried hot red chilies

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

a large pinch of ajwain seeds

a large pinch ground asafetida

1 teaspoon of turmeric

 

Put all the masala ingredients, except the asafetida and turmeric in a

medium skillet. Toast the spices over medium high heat, swirling the

skillet occassionally until they become fragrant, about 3 - 5 minutes. let

the spices cool slightly transfer them to a spice/coffee grinder and pulse

the switch to pulverize them into a fine powder. Empty the powder into a

smal bowl and mix in the asafetida and turmeric. Transfer the blend to a

storage container.

 

Enjoy

[Guest guest]

This looks like a keeper! Thanks so much - always looking for more things to

do with eggplant!

 

Any substitute for the ajwain (in the Shari Masala recipe?) - I understand it

has quite an astringent bite and would seem necessary to the effectiveness of

the spice mix, but I just don't happen to have seen it around. Shall look for it

of

course. (For those who are curious, look it up - suggest the link to Epicurious

on our own Links page, filed in the folder Herbs and Spices, etc. )

 

Best, Pat

[Guest guest]

Dans un e-mail daté du 06/08/2005 07:05:26 Pacific Daylight Time,

running42k a écrit :

 

1/4 cup fresh cilantro coarsely chopped

 

 

What is ciltrano please. I never heard of it in Europe. If I know what it is

like, maybe I can find a substitute.

 

Chris

 

ebay seller ID: culden

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

Hi Chris,

 

Cilantro is the fresh green leaves of the coriander plant - in English it is

called

coriander or coriander leaves. In french, coriandre; in german, koriander.

 

Does that help at all? It is also sometimes called Chinese parsley.

 

You might want to look here at an illustration:

 

http://www.epicurious.com/cooking/how_to/food_dictionary/search?query=

cilantro & Operation=food

 

Best luck,

 

Pat

> What is ciltrano please. I never heard of it in Europe. If I know what it is

> like, maybe I can find a substitute.

>

> Chris

>

> ebay seller ID: culden

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Dans un e-mail daté du 10/08/2005 09:24:43 Pacific Daylight Time,

veggiehound a écrit :

 

Cilantro is the fresh green leaves of the coriander plant

 

 

Thanks Pat,

Now I know exactly what you mean. In fact I grow it though, this year, the

plant has struggled to become very big for some reason.

 

Chris

 

ebay seller ID: culden