Curried eggplant

(In Portuguese)


Today's lunch: curried eggplant with a side of chickpeas.

1 large eggplant

2 medium tomatos

1 chilli pepper or dried red red pepper

2 tablespoons oil

1 level teaspoon salt

1 level teaspoon cumin seeds

1/2 teaspoon turmeric

1/2 teaspoon curry

1/2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 teaspoon garam masala (it's an indian seasoning)

1 small handful of chopped parsley

I'm sure that cooking the eggplant in a microwave oven is much easier, but I don't have one because I wouldn't use it for anything else, so I just cook it on water until it's tender.
I peel the eggplant under cold runing water, with the help of a knife, then I chop it roughly and set aside.

I process the tomatos (washed and chopped) and the pepper on the blender until smooth.

Today I made and experience exchanging one of the tomatos for one small carrot, but I found out I actually prefer the other way because the carrot flavour was too strong.

Anyways, I heat the oil and "fry" the seasonings: cumin seeds/turmeric/curry/black pepper, when the smell starts to come out I throw in the pureé and eggplant.

I cook it for about 10 minutes, squeezing the eggplant pieces against the pan to make them dissolve and form a cream.

When I turn off the heat I add garam masala, salt and parsley and mix well.

The chickpeas are way easier: I buy it dried, let it soak overnight - one cup chickpeas to two cups water. In the morning I strain the soaking water and replace it to cook the chickpeas with 1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds. It takes about 2 hours to cook throughly. Done.

Just strain and store. I usually cook a lot of it and keep it on the freezer, so that it's handy.

For the picture I garnished with some black sesame seeds. :)