Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Sweet & Sour Baby Eggplant – with Jyo’s Spice



Another Karma Chef original! This turned out real nice. Good party dish. Only problem is these baby eggplants are seasonal and available only at the Asian grocery store. Next time I will try it with regular eggplant sliced up – should work just as well. We eat this with Trader Joe’s Truly Handmade Tortillas (wheat ones) and raita. I am not “desi” enough to make my own chapattis, thank you!

Whole cumin – ½ tsp
I medium onion- thinly sliced
Oginga Fried Spice – 1 tbsp
Jyo’s Spice – 2-3 tsp
½ cup diced tomato or thickened Tomato Puree
1 tsp tamarind paste
Brown sugar – 1 to 2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Chilli powder to taste
Cillantro for garnish

Slit baby eggplants crosswise, drizzle with oil, pack up in foil and throw on the bar-b-que. While they are grilling, prepare the sauce. Heat oil in pan, add cumin, let it sizzle/pop then add onion – brown nicely before adding Oginga paste, Jyo’s Spice, tamarind and tomato puree. Fry spices till oil separates then add ½ cup water, salt, sugar and chilli to taste. Check on eggplant, they should be softened by now. Add them in gently to the sauce. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Taste sauce and balance the sweet/sour/hot taste (sorry to be so vague, I am hopeless with measurements) Garnish with cillantro.

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