A friend of mine at work has an impressive vegetable garden. I don’t know this because I’ve seen it; I’m convinced because of the variety and abundance of veggies she brings in several times each week. I’m lucky enough to bring home things that I don’t personally grow and at times things I do, but hers are ripe and mine aren’t. This week was no exception.
Two small purple eggplants found their way home with me and tonight I decided I would find a new recipe to use them. I searched the internet and as is usually the case came up with a combination of several recipes I could manipulate to suit my family’s taste buds and also utilize ingredients I had on hand.
It’s no secret everyone in my household loves Indian food, so I searched for recipes using the basic ingredients found in that part of the world… cumin, cayenne pepper, tomatoes, onions. Here’s what I came up with:
Ingredients
2 small purple eggplants
2 Tbl vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, grated
4-5 small campari tomatoes (or 1 medium tomato), diced up
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper to taste
¼ cup chopped cilantro
White rice
Directions
You’ll be doing 3 things at once here: Broiling eggplant, cooking rice and preparing the remaining ingredients to be mixed with the eggplant.
Pre-heat broiler. Rub a small amount of oil on outside of eggplant (or coat with cooking spray). Cook until the flesh is soft and the skin is blistering off; about 30 minutes.
At the 15 minute mark, turn eggplant over for even cooking and begin cooking rice ~ I always use a rice cooker. It’s a great way to multi-task. The rice is perfect every time and it doesn’t take up any valuable stove top space.
Once rice is cooking, add remainder of oil, onions, ginger and garlic to large skillet or wok; cook and stir until onions are tender. Stir in the tomato and season with spices. Cook and stir a few minutes.
Once eggplant is done, remove from oven. Cut in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh. Discard skin. Chop up flesh and add to skillet ingredients. Let the mixture cook on low for about 5 minutes just so all the flavors mix with the eggplant.
Serve mixture over rice and garnish with fresh cilantro.
We all really enjoyed this new recipe. Some dishes are just meant to be and this one didn’t disappoint. It was bursting with flavors that were familiar and pleasing to our palette and it was filling. It was prepared using only homegrown vegetables and is a great option for the vegetarians in your life. I happen to have two in mine. Oh, and it was super easy. Does it get any better than that?
Thank you Diana for the beautiful eggplant that inspired me tonight!
My Bungalow Days 