Sarah: ICBC Eggplant

Eggplant Curry with Saffron Rice and Naan

Eggplant Curry

2 large eggplants

1 1/2 cups white mushrooms

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon black mustard seeds

1 bunch scallions, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 fresh red chile, finely chopped

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

14 oz can chopped tomatoes

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro, plus more for garnish

1. Preheat oven to 400. Wrap each eggplant in aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour, or until soft. Unwrap and let cool.

2. Cut the mushrooms in half and set aside.

3. While the eggplants are baking, heat the oil in a heavy pot and fry the mustard seeds for 2 minutes, until they begin to sputter. Add the scallions, mushrooms, garlic, chile and fry for 5 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, ground coriander, turmeric, and salt and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes.

4. Cut each eggplant in half lengthwise and scoop out the soft flesh. In a mixing bowl mash the flesh roughly with a fork.

5. Add the mashed eggplants and chopped fresh cilantro to the pan. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Serve immediately, garnished with a cilantro spring.

Saffron Rice

I winged it. I combined regular white rice, a dash of olive oil, some saffron threads and a handful of raisins (my grocery didn't have goldens, and cashews were $7 per container) in my rice cooker, and cooked as usual.

Naan

2 cups unbleached white bread flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 oz active dry yeast

4 tablespoons lukewarm milk

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

2 tablespoons plain yogurt

1 egg

2-3 tablespoons melted ghee or butter, for brushing

1. Sift flour and salt together in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, cream yeast and milk together. Set aside for 15 minutes.

2. Add the yeast mixture, vegetable oil, yogurt and egg to the flour. Combine the mixture using your hands until it forms a soft dough.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for 10 minutes, or until it feels smooth. Return the dough to the bowl, cover and let stand in a warm place for 1 hour, or until it has doubled in size. Preheat the oven to it's highest setting, no lower than 450.

4. Turn out dough back onto floured surface and knead for another 2 minutes. Divide into 3 equal pieces, shape into balls and then roll out into teardrop shapes about 10 inches long, 5 inches wide and 1/4-1/3 inch thick.

5. Place on a preheated baking sheet, bake for 3-4 minutes or until puffed up.

6. Broil at highest setting for a few seconds to brown the tops. Brush with ghee or butter and serve.

---REVIEW---

I made a lot (and I mean a lot) of subs in the curry, including using a jalepeno, chipotle pepper powder and some not so ground spices. The rice also had a few subs, as my grocery is a bit on the under-stocked side. The naan seemed to have way too much yeast in it, as it was more like regular bread then flat naan.

But... everything tasted good! The curry especially. And everything was easy, even though there seem to be a lot of steps. I didn't do a good enough job of measuring out spices before hand, and it didn't hurt the recipe at all that I took some extra time between steps.

Please take note that Saffron is SUPER expensive. Like $14 for a small bag of threads. But it also takes something like 2000 flowers to harvest enough threads for one bag. So maybe it's worth it. I think it's worth it.

Found in "The Best Ever Indian Cookbook".