(India/Afghanistan) This recipe takes a bit more effort, as it uses 3 sauces, all of which can be made a day in advance, and only the tomato-chickpea sauce needs reheating. It's really good though!
3 large aubergines
3T salt
Olive oil
Tomato-Chickpea Sauce –
1T olive oil
2 whole dried hot red chillis
1t whole brown mustard seeds
3 cloves garlic
2x 400g cans tomatoes
10 fresh curry or basil leaves, if available
410g can chickpeas, or 350g cooked and drained chickpeas (see below)
1/4t salt
1t cumin
1t coriander
¼ t turmeric
Yoghurt Sauce –
10T natural yoghurt
¼ t cumin seeds
Tamarind Chutney (buy premade, or make your own) –
2T thick tamarind paste – get the kind without the tamarind skins mixed in – it’s a pain in the arse trying to separate them.
2T sugar
¼ t cumin seeds
Trim aubergine – slice off top and bottom, then cut crossways into slices approx 3-5cm thick.
Place aubergine in a colander and sprinkle cut slices with salt. Leave ½ hour, rinse and pat dry (this step stops the aubergine from soaking up so much oil as it cooks).
Brush aubergine slices with olive oil and grill on both sides until golden brown and cooked through (it should be very melt-in-your-mouthy, with no sponginess).
Tomato-chickpea sauce –
Heat olive oil in a large, heavy lidded pan, when very hot add chillis and mustard seeds.
When mustard seeds begin to pop (within seconds) add crushed garlic.
Stir once, then add tomatoes, curry/basil leaves, chickpeas, salt, cumin, coriander and turmeric.
Bring to a simmer, cover, reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
Remove the 2 chilies before serving.
Yoghurt sauce –
Heat ½ t cumin seeds without oil in a heavy pan over medium heat. Stir until seeds are a few shades darker and smell roasted – but do not burn (easy to do if the heat is too high)! Grind seeds in a mortar + pestle or electric spice grinder. Use half for the tamarind chutney.
Beat yoghurt lightly with a fork of small whisk until smooth, then stir in roasted cumin.
Tamarind Chutney –
Mix tamarind paste, sugar, salt + roasted cumin in a cup.
If aubergine needs reheating, spread in a single layer and bake at 160°C until hot (about 15 minutes).
Spread aubergine slices in a single layer on a large platter or individual plates, pour a small ladle-full of tomato-chickpea sauce on top of each slice, top with yoghurt and tamarind chutney.
Serve with brown rice and any other curries, vegetables, roti, chapattis, poppadoms, etc your heart desires.
To Cook Chickpeas –
Cover with boiling water and leave to soak overnight.
Change water and boil for one hour before adding to the recipe (it is important to change the water between soaking and cooking legumes because of the chemicals that leach out during soaking. The water used during cooking is fine to save and use as a stock though).
