There’s nothing more satisfying than a curry – and having one up your sleeve that doesn’t involve meat is a game changer for midweek cooking.
Whip up Jamie Oliver’s Stuffed Curried Eggplants with spicy tamarind and peanut sauce for a vegetarian weeknight meal.
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 1 onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 4cm piece of ginger
- 1/2 a bunch of fresh coriander (15g)
- 2 fresh red chillies
- 1 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, mustard seeds, ground turmeric, garam masala, fenugreek seeds
- 1 big handful of fresh curry leaves
- groundnut oil
- 2 tablespoons (heaped) crunchy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon mango chutney
- 2 tablespoons tamarind paste
- 12 finger eggplants (800g total)
- 1 x 400g tin of light coconut milk
- 250g ripe mixed-colour cherry tomatoes
- sea salt and black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/gas 5. Peel the onion, garlic and ginger, place in a food processor with the coriander stalks and chillies (deseed if you like), and whiz to a fine paste.
Put the spices and curry leaves into a 25cm x 35cm roasting tray on a low heat with two tablespoons of oil and fry for one minute, or until smelling fantastic, stirring constantly. Tip in the paste and cook for five minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly.
Stir in the peanut butter, mango chutney and tamarind paste, season with a good pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then scrape into a bowl, adding a splash of water to loosen to a paste, if needed.
Leaving them intact at the stalk, cut the eggplants into quarters lengthways, rub and stuff them generously with all the paste, then arrange them in the tray (if using regular eggplants, simply trim then cut into 1cm-thick rounds and sandwich the paste between them).
Place the tray on a medium heat and fry for five minutes, turning halfway. Add the coconut milk, roughly chop and sprinkle over the tomatoes, season well with salt and pepper, and bring to the boil.
Cover with tin foil and roast for 40 minutes, or until thickened and reduced, removing the foil halfway. Season to perfection and scatter over the coriander leaves.
To serve: always good with fluffy rice, pappadums, yoghurt and extra fresh chilli.
What’s your go-to curry recipe? Why not share your favourite in the comments section below?
Also read: Eggplant and Goats’ Cheese Burger Stacks
– With PA
