January 4, 2009: Spicy eggplant and potatoes

Our first installment with a new recipe calendar! An eggplant and potato curry is just our kinda meal, this one made easier than our usual efforts since it involves a jar of Kan-Tong. Unfortunately this is where we got a little too blasé in the supermarket. Firstly, our can o'curry included some extra potato chunks. Second and worse, we discovered once home that it contained shrimp paste. We forged on, but won't be repeating this dish with that brand. As an aside, dear reader, is there a brand of vegetarian curry paste that's won your loyalty? I think we need to adopt one... or two. Maybe four.

With all that canned curry going on, this was probably the least spicy such dish we've ever made. But it was enlivened by my spontaneous addition of some leftover fried tempeh. I'm usually not a big tempeh fan, finding it a bit dense and dry, but here it really came into its own - it willingly soaked up the sauce and supplied a nutty new texture. Though this meal didn't blow our minds or our mouths, it's a promising launching point for some fine future meals.


Spicy eggplant and potatoes

1 medium eggplant
2 large potatoes
2 onions
1/4 cup peanut oil
1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
360g jar massaman curry
1 tablespoon fresh coriander, to garnish

Chop the eggplant and potatoes into 1 inch cubes; peel the onions and slice them into eighths.

Heat the oil in a wok and stir-fry the potatoes, onion, garlic and ginger for 5 minutes. Add the eggplant and stir-fry for a further 5 minutes. Pour in the curry and stir it all together. Bring it to the boil, then simmer for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.

Garnish with coriander leaves.