Ingredients
- 2 Aubergine
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 can of chickpeas
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- 2 tins chopped tomatoes
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 large onion
- 2 tsp ground corinader
- 3 cloves of ginger
- 2 tsp turmeric
- 2 red chillies
- 1 tsp chili powder
- 1 inch piece of fresh ginger
- 4 tbsp veg/sunflower oil
Method
- Roughly slice the onions and put to one side. Grate the garlic, ginger and finely chop the chilies.
- Heat up the oil in a large pan and put the cumin seeds and mustard seeds in the pan. Heat for 2-3 minutes, this should take them to the point where the spices will start to give off a nice aroma.
- Now add the onions, garlic, ginger, chilies, salt, pepper, and the chopped tomatoes. This is now your curry paste. You now need to allow this to reduce down. This can take some time, and also I find that whilst it’s reducing it gets very hot and starts spitting out the pan. If you place a lid on the pan, half on and half off, this helps to keep your kitchen relatively clean.
- Now to start the Aubergine. Cube the Aubergine into bite size pieces. Heat some oil in a large frying pan and fry the Aubergine off in batches. You don’t want to overfill the pan. It may take a few batches to get through it all.
- Your paste should now have reduced sufficiently and look and feel much dryer. Time to add the ground spices. Put all the spices in at the same time and stir for a few minutes.
- Now add the chickpeas straight from the can, with the water they are in. This will loosen up the sauce again. Allow the chickpeas to cook for a while on a medium to low heat. If you like your curry slightly wetter then you can add a bit more water at this point.
- It is now time to add the Aubergine. Stir the Aubergine through and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes on a medium to low heat.
- Your curry is now ready. You can either serve straight away, or what I like to do is make the curry the day before or early in the day and leave it to sit to deepen the flavours and then heat it up when I’m ready to eat.
