Beyond Eggplant Parmesan

Indian restaurants are a great place to go and taste what happens when people use the entire spice cabinet. If you've ever read the ingredients on a curry mix you will realize they can have as few as 5 spices to as many as 10, 20, or even more. Most of these are things that people actually keep around the house and some are a little less common. Curry basically just refers to the sauce. You can use just about any mixture of spices, any kind of meat if any at all, and any vegetables. One curry that I make frequently is eggplant curry.

Before buying eggplants you need to know that the smaller they are the less bitter they will probably be. You want smaller eggplants that are firm and fairly heavy for their size. Japanese eggplants are best if you can find them. They are about as tall as the standard variety but far skinnier. In this recipe I use 2 eggplants but if I have Japanese I'd use 4 or 5. To make the curry you will need:

Eggplant Curry

2 or 3 eggplants

1 medium onion sliced thin

3 cloves of garlic smashed

1-2 tbsp of ginger smashed

1 can of coconut milk or about 2 C of yogurt

1 can of diced onions, drained

2C water or chicken broth. It may not be necessary

2 or 3 tbsp of any oil or even butter

1 chili pepper. Remove the seeds and membrane and dice it finely. Use jalapeno or serrano peppers for more heat. Anaheim or poblanos are milder

3 tablespoons or more of some spice mixture. Curry powder, garam masala, or even your own blend will work. Look for mixtures that have little if any salt. That way you can control the salt.

1C cooked garbanzo beans

Salt and pepper to taste

First cut off the tops of the eggplant, remove any stickers from the grocery store and cut them in half long ways. Salt the flesh part thoroughly and drizzle olive oil over them. Put them in a 9x13" pan, skin side down with 1-2C of water. Do not submerge them, the water should not touch the flesh side. It is just to prevent them from drying out. Put them in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes to an hour until they are very soft.

With about 5 minutes left add the butter or oil, onions, garlic, chiis, a pinch of salt and ginger and cook on medium heat until everything is soft. Add your spices and let it cook another minute or two.

Take the eggplants out and use a spoon to scrape the flesh out of the skins. Be careful since the eggplants are hot. If they are cooked enough they should scrape out easily. Roughly chop the flesh and add it to the pan. Stir for another minute or so. Add the tomatoes and garbanzo beans, stir and let it cook for another minute or so. Add your coconut milk or yogurt and stir again. Add the water or chicken stock and stir. Let it cook for about 10-15 minutes. When it is about the consistency of white gravy it is done. While you are cooking the sauce have some rice cooking as well. Serve over rice and garnish with some chopped cilantro and some lemon or lime juice. If it is too spicy you can add a little yogurt and if it isn't spicy enough mix in some curry paste or cayenne pepper.

For spice blends I like to make my own. It is 1tbsp of: garlic powder, ginger powder, cayenne pepper, paprika, tumeric, coriander, and cumin. I also add 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon and 1/2 tsp of salt. I use about half of that for a single sized batch of eggplant curry. If you don't have all of those try finding a yellow curry or garam masala in the international section of the food store. Or get both and mix them together. If you want it spicy add cayenne pepper. With some experimenting, you can make your own spice blend.

Baba ghanoush

Hummus has become very popular recently in the United States. It is a sauce used often in Greek or Middle Eastern cooking using garbanzo beans, olive oil, tahini, and lemon juice. But if you want to try something a little different and a little healthier, try baba ghanoush. It is similar except instead of tahini, which is ground sesame seed paste, it uses roasted eggplants. To make it you will need:

2-3 eggplants

4-6 tbsp olive oil

2 cans garbanzo beans

2-3 tbsp lemon juice

1 bulb roasted garlic

1 tsp smoked paprika, it doesn't have to be spicy but smoked gives it a flavor that makes you think the eggplants were grilled rather than roasted.

Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the tops off of the eggplants and split them in half long ways. Salt the flesh liberally then drizzle olive oil over the top. Put them in a baking dish skin side down. Also cut the bottom off of a bulb of garlic, salt the exposed flesh and put oil over that. Wrap it in aluminum foil. Put the eggplants and garlic into a 300 degree oven for about 45 minutes until they are very soft. You may need to add a little water to the bottom of the baking dish so they don't dry out.

When the eggplants are done, use a spoon to pull the flesh off the skin. Put the flesh into a food processor. Squeeze the garlic in also. Blend that all up until it is smooth. Now add the remaining oil, about 3 or 4 tbsp, the lemon juice, a large pinch of salt (maybe 1/4-1/2 tsp), and the paprika. Drain one can of garbanzo beans completely. Add both cans including the liquid from the other can. If you use beans that you cooked at home rather than canned, use about 3C garbanzo and add water about 3 or 4 tbsp at a time until it becomes smooth.

Be sure to blend this thoroughly until is thick but smooth. It should have the same consistency as hummus Eat it as a dip with pita chips or even tortilla chips, or just grab a spoon and dig in!

Ratatouille my way!

We've all heard of the Pixar movie. Actually whenever I say that I am going to make ratatouille that is the first thing anyone says to me. In reality it is a French dish prepared with roasted vegetables. It may sound fancy but it is actually considered peasant food. My version is served over homemade pasta with feta cheese and balsamic vinaigrette. To make it you will need:

2 eggplants

2 green zucchini

2 yellow zucchini also known as summer squash

1 sweet onion

2 large tomatoes

1 C diced mushrooms (optional)

1 bulb garlic

2 red bell pepper (optional)

1 C semolina flour

2 eggs

3 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar

8-10 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 C crumbled feta cheese

2 tbsp fresh basil

1/4 C fresh parsley

3 carrots (optional)

Salt and pepper

Plenty of olive oil and balsamic for the vegetables

This sounds like a lot of vegetables because it is, but it is definitely worth the work. I usually make this on days when I go to the Farmer's Market. There are few things that taste as good as this dish with fresh produce from the market. To begin get ready to do some chopping, and also preheat an oven to 300. Remove the skins from the eggplants. Cut the eggplants, onions, mushrooms and tomatoes all into about 1/2" slices. Cut the red peppers in half and remove the seeds. Toss all of the vegetables with olive oil and put them on 1 or 2 baking sheets. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them and drizzle a little vinegar over the top. Roast them for about 30-45 minutes. Also cut the bottom off of the garlic, sprinkle salt over the exposed flesh, drizzle with oil and wrap in aluminum foil. Put this in the oven too. After about 20 minutes, check the vegetables every 5 minutes until everything is nice and soft.

For the zucchinis preheat a pan to medium high heat. Cut them to 1" slices and salt both sides. Add a little oil to the pan. Cook both sides until the zucchinis are golden brown, about 2 or 3 minutes per side. Set aside all of the vegetables until they are cool enough to handle but still warm. Now is a good time to make the pasta. If you are using homemade pasta use the semolina flour and eggs to make egg noodles. If you are using store-bought pasta ignore those ingredients. Be sure to salt the pasta water. It should be a small handful of salt and 1 gallon of water for a box of pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, make the vinaigrette. Add the 3 tbsp of balsamic, basil, salt and pepper and roasted garlic to a blender. Blend until everything is smooth. With the blender running, slowly add the olive oil. If is too thick add 1 or 2tbsp of the pasta water. The pasta water is already seasoned so it won't make the dressing bland and the starch from the pasta will help hold the dressing together.

When the vegetables have cooled down, dice them all to bite-sized pieces. Slice the carrots into 1/4" slices and add them. You can also add some uncooked tomatoes for a bit more of a fresh flavor. Mix it all with the pasta. Crumble the feta cheese into it and toss everything. Add the vinaigrette and toss that in. Top it with some good parmesan cheese and fresh parsley.