Slacker Baingan Bharta (Indian Eggplant Curry)

Hello!

 

Thank you for all of your support on my Goal Recap post. I know that no one will knock on my door if I don't meet my goals, but the little bit of accountability really helps.

 

 

We recently went to a church rummage sale that was giving away free hot dogs. A couple of things at play here:

• We're vegetarians and hot dogs are not vegetarian.
• Hot dogs are poisonous, even to non-vegetarians.
• I love free food and they smelled so good.

Ergo -

 



 

Veggie dog bonanza! We seriously ate this for dinner 4 nights in a row. I bought Tofurky Italian Sausages and whole wheat hot dog buns from Trader Joe's. Because the veggie dogs had about 300 calories and an obscene amount of sodium. we split each down the middle and grilled in our sandwich press. Served on toasted buns with mustard, ketchup, and zucchini relish.

 

On the side are carrot sticks, iced tea and spinachy baked beans. I requested healthy coleslaw, which my husband whipped up with shredded cabbage and carrots, homemade yogurt, red wine vinegar, maple syrup, and lotsa black pepper. I ate the rest of it for breakfast ;)

 

SEE YA LATER, SUMMER.

 



 

Actually, one more thing! I wanted to share this recipe for baingan bharta before the eggplants go away. Baingan bharta is an eggplant-based Indian curry and this version is nowhere near traditional, but it's very easy to make and I love it.

 

Slacker Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry)

• 2 medium eggplants
• 2 28-oz cans of diced tomatoes (or any other tomato products, like crushed/sauced/whatev)
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• Pretty much any spice you have

Peel and chunk your eggplant. Dump into crockpot. If you don't have a crockpot, find one. Winter is coming!

Add tomatoes. Cook on low until it's nice and soft, about 4 hours.

 

Spice it! This is the fun part when you throw just about every non-spaghetti-sauce spice into the crockpot. We like to use some combination of cumin, coriander, "curry" powder (which can mean any combination of anything) and garam masala (another spice blend). Add some red pepper if you like it spicy. Add the brown sugar to tame the tomato tang.

 

 

We never have cilantro in the house, but a sprig of it would be a great garnish. Also, because this dish has so little protein, I like to serve it with chickpea pancakes on the side.

Chickpea Pancakes

• 2/3 cup chickpea flour (also called gram flour or besan)
• 1 egg substitute or egg
• Any spices you may have used in the curry

Stir everything together, adding up to 1 cup of water as necessary to make it thin. Cook in a hot skillet.

I love this dish because it doesn't heat your kitchen, requires very little hands-on time, packs well for lunch the next day and is embarrassingly simple.

Have you ever tried Indian food? What is your favorite dish?
I love saag paneer, which is a creamy spinach dish with cubes of mild white cheese. With a big piece of garlic naan (bread) on the side :)