SRI LANKAN AUBERGINE CURRY
I think Sri Lankan cuisine is one of my favourites. It’s so vegetable focused and full of so much flavour, perfect for a veg lover like me.! We visited a few years ago and I was enamoured. It’s so rare to travel as a veggie and it be so easy to eat out. Aside from the food, what a beautiful welcoming country.
I’m always going back to these flavours, there are endless dishes to make, and it never gets old.
I’m also basking in the glory of summer ingredients right now. Summer is my season. I love the heat, longer days, being outdoors, bright and colourful summer produce, and everyone’s just a bit happier.
Aubergines have been featuring heavily in my diet lately, so you’ll probably be seeing a lot of aubergines from me this summer! Also loving the beautiful tomatoes, courgettes, artichokes, cherries, apricots, fresh herbs.
I made this dish for a client recently and thought I’d share the recipe here too. If you make this be sure to let me know how you got on!
Red rice is very popular in Sri Lanka, so if you can find it I would serve that here, it’s wholegrain so nutrient and has a really great flavour. I only had black rice when I took the pictures, and this worked beautifully too.
Aubergine curry
serves 4
2 aubergine, approx 800g
75g rapeseed or coconut oil
10 fresh curry leaves *
½ tsp fenugreek
1 tsp ground cumin
1 inch fresh grated turmeric or 1 teaspoon ground
2 whole cloves
2 red onion, diced
20g garlic, minced
200g coconut milk
60g tamarind water **
Pol Sambol
100g desiccated coconut
1 tomato - about 120g
½ - 1 tsp salt
juice of 1- 2 limes - about 50g
1 teaspoon chilli flakes
1 green chilli, finely chopped
10g rapeseed oil
10 fresh curry leaf
*Fresh curry leaves are much more available now and they freeze really well
Cut the aubergine into 2 inch pieces, sprinkle with salt and place in a colander, this will draw some water out and and they’ll absorb less oil.
Cook your rice while the curry is cooking. Rinse and cook according to the packet instructions, be sure to season. I like to add some fragrant herbs/spices to the rice, such as a cinnamon stick and or a whole lightly smashed lemongrass. In the unlikely event that you have some pandan leaves in the fridge, you can add a cut leaf to the pan.
To make the curry. Heat a large fry pan over medium high heat, add 40ml of the rapeseed oil. You’ll probably need to cook the aubergine in two batches as you don’t want to overcrowd the pan. Add half the aubergine, and cook for 3-4 minutes, so that it takes on colour and softens slightly. Transfer to a plate and cook the rest of the aubergine. Transfer the rest of the aubergine to the plate. Add the rest of the oil, add the curry leaves, fry for 30 seconds, then spices then the onion and garlic. Cook for about 5 minutes until the onion has softened, you don’t want it to brown. You can add a splash of water, rather than extra oil if it seems like it needs a little moisture.
Add the aubergine back to the pan, then the coconut milk and tamarind water. Cook for 10 minutes, taste for seasoning.
While the curry cooks, make the pol sambol.
Finely chop the tomato, and transfer to a mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients except the curry leaves. For the curry leaves, heat a small frying pan, add the oil, once hot add the curry leaves, cook for a minute then transfer to the sambol bowl. Mix well, taste for seasoning. It should be pretty punchy, with plenty of lime and a nice heat -of course depending on how hot you like it.
The rice should also be ready around now. Discard anything you added to the rice, like pandan or cinnamon. Serve the curry alongside the rice and the pol sambol. If you want to add some greens, simple steamed greens are all you really need!
** To make the tamarind water.
Soak 10g tamarind pulp in 60g boiling water for 20 minutes, use a fork to break up the tamarind as much as possible, and strain through a fine mesh sieve, pressing through as much tamarind as you can. Discard the tamarind chunks and keep the water.
