The Eggplant Experiment Take 1

I love eggplants. I think it's a very unique, exotic, and delicious vegetable. Nothing else tastes or feels like it. I don't think I've ever not liked something with eggplant in it. Every time I see eggplant on a menu, I almost always have to order it as it somehow stirs my innate food curiosity. The only problem is that I don't really know how to prepare eggplants. The only thing I've ever done with eggplants was to just stir-fry them, which is delicious, but I feel just stir-frying these wonderful violet vegetables would be not only boring but a dint on my cooking rep.

Max and I have been getting a lot of eggplants at our farm share. Apparently it's eggplant season! They have all kinds of eggplants, from the Japanese long and slender ones to the big round and dark Italian ones to the cute white-striped rosa biancas. We always get at least 2 eggplants, but I never know what to do with them, so I've decided to do some experiments on eggplants. Here's one of them.

The inspiration for this experiment came when I was at Trader Joe's, where I almost bought their Indian Fare Punjab (eggplant) instant curry packet. I looked at the ingredients on the box, which was so straightforward: eggplant, tomatoes, onions, sunflower oil, pumpkin, garlic, salt, coriander, chilies, cumin, ginger, turmeric, cloves. I've got almost everything (except the pumpkin) in my pantry, so there was no reason why I should spend $3 on a pre-packaged food instead of just making a fresh homemade dish.

Eggplant Experiment Take 1: Indian Eggplant Curry. It didn't turn out exactly like TJ's. It was better. It was one of the best eggplant curries I've ever had! I couldn't believe how delicious it was! It was packed with so much flavor, and the freshness of all of the vegetables really brought our the true taste of nature in every bite. To complement the curry, I made a brown basmati rice pilaf, which was also delicious.

Eggplant Experiment Take 1: success! Now I'm thinking an eggplant soy parmesan for Take 2.

brown basmati pilaf and indian eggplant and tomato curry