I absolutely love Indian food and now that the weather is growing colder, I’m craving thick, hearty sauces even more than I usually do (which is usually a lot even when it’s the summer). While Indian food has the reputation of being challenging to cook, it’s all about having the necessary spices on hand! I have always found cooking with spices a very intuitive process, which lends itself really well to Indian cooking. Having a Stainless Steel Spice Set is really convenient when you’re cooking Indian food!
Vegan Indian Eggplant Curry Recipe
While North Indian cooking is known to use yogurt to thicken their sauces, I am not a fan of yogurt, so I wanted to do a vegan version of a thick curry sauce and used Coconut milk instead, which gave it a really nice smooth consistency while also making it dairy-free!
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time1 hr
Total Time1 hr 30 mins
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
Mains
- 1 large eggplant
- 1/2 a golden onion
- 1/4 c of olive oil
- 1/4 c of grapeseed oil
- 2 cups of basmati rice
- 1/3 cup of water
- 1/2 large can of pureed tomatoes
- 2/3 can of coconut milk
- 1 can of kidney beans
Spices
- 2 tsp of sea salt
- 2 tsp of pepper
- 1 tsp of chili powder
- 1 tsp of turmeric
- 1 tsp of red pepper
- 2 tsp of smoked paprika
- 1 tsp of curry powder
- 2 tsp of cumin
- 1 tsp of coriander
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 tbsp of minced ginger
- 2 handfuls of fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Chop the eggplant horizontally into cubes
- Put the eggplant on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and add half of the amount of salt/pepper.
- Bake for 25 minutes, turn halfway through, and bake until golden brown.
- In a large saucepan, heat the grapeseed oil over medium high heat. Add onions, stir for one minute, and then lower the heat to medium-low/low for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are golden brown.
- Stir in all of the spices: chili powder, turmeric, red pepper, smoked paprika, curry powder, cumin, coriander, garam masala and cook until fragrant, which is about 1 minute.
- Then stir in the garlic and ginger for about 2 more minutes.
- Stir in everything together and bring to a rolling simmer, lower the heat, simmer, and cover for about 25 minutes for the sauce/flavors to blend and for the sauce to thicken.
- Drizzle the cilantro on top and serve with basmati rice!
Notes
I like to add more spices than what I indicated in the recipe but everyone has different tastebuds! The kidney beans are optional, but I love the texture. If the sauce is too thick, you can put a
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1/2 a golden onion
- 1/4 c of olive oil
- 2 tsp of sea salt
- 2 tsp of pepper
- 1/4 c of grapeseed oil
- 1 tsp of chili powder
- 1 tsp of turmeric
- 1 tsp of red pepper
- 1 tsp of smoked paprika
- 1 tsp of curry powder
- 1 tsp of cumin
- 1 tsp of coriander
- 1 tsp of garam masala
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- 1 tbsp of minced ginger
- 1/2 large can of pureed tomatoes
- 2/3 can of coconut milk
- 1/3-1/2 cup of water ( like my sauces thicker so I use closer to 1/3)
- 1 can of kidney beans (optional- I love the texture it brings)
- 2 handfuls of fresh cilantro
- 2 cups of basmati rice
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees
- Chop the eggplant horizontally into cubes
- Put the eggplant on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil, and add half of the amount of salt/pepper.
- Bake for 25 minutes, turn halfway through, and bake until golden brown.
- In a large saucepan, heat the grapeseed oil over medium high heat. Add onions, stir for one minute, and then lower the heat to medium-low/low for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally until the onions are golden brown.
- Stir in all of the spices: chili powder, turmeric, red pepper, smoked paprika, curry powder, cumin, coriander and cook until fragrant, which is about 1 minute. You might add more spices throughout the process given your taste buds.
- Then stir in the garlic and ginger for about 2 more minutes.
- Add the tomato puree, coconut milk, water, roasted eggplant, and optional kidney beans.
- Stir in everything together and bring to a rolling simmer, lower the heat, simmer, and cover for about 25 minutes for the sauce/flavors to blend and for the sauce to thicken.
- Drizzle the cilantro on top and serve with basmati rice!
