Recipe: Lentil Eggplant Curry

Here is the recipe of the Lentil Eggplant Curry we made for CE dinner on Sept. 27'2008.

This curry, served with rice, pita, and other grains, makes for a wonderfully filling and nutritious meal. It was a great feeling of excitement (or accomplishment) when the dish turned out so delicious. Better yet it is fun to prepare this dish, and easy too.

* a disclaimer: because these recipes are made for two hundred people these measurements are estimations and loose suggestions only (sorry!)

Ingredients
2 to 3 tbsp oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large red onion
3-4 tomatoes
2 potatoes (diced and par-boiled)
1 turnip (diced and par-boiled with potato)
1 cup cauliflower (diced)
1 large eggplant
3 cups whole red lentils (precooked)
3 cups water (maybe more)
salt
spices

Steps

1. Start with oil in a big saucepan, cook it up hot, add your cumin seeds or powder, cook for a few minutes until you can smell the aromas (we also added standard "curry" powder).
   
2. Add the diced onion into the oil and cook until translucent, adding garlic a few minutes after the onion (as it burns if too hot).
   
3. Add the diced tomato and bring the heat up. Add ginger spice, turmeric, and chili flakes, along with the first dose of salt (you are creating your curry paste base).
   
4. Add the par-boiled potatoes and turnip, the cauliflower and eggplant. Cook for four - five minutes so the veg absorbs all those good juices.
   
5. After this, add the precooked lentils with the extra water and consider adding a little extra water. (It works like this: split red lentils DO NOT need to be precooked, and can be cooked in the curry with a little more water and a few more minutes on the stovetop.)
   
6. Let all this cook away -- the longer you cook it (on LOW) the more mature the taste.
   
7. Add more salt, maybe additional cumin or chili flakes. You want the lentils and the eggplant very soft and brown!

Enjoy!