Name: Mashed Roast Eggplant Tomato Curry
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 1 h 15 min
Total time: 1 h 40 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 2 small or 1 large eggplants (~2 lbs total); 4 Tbsp + olive oil; ¾ cup onion, diced; 2 tsp garlic, minced; 2 tsp ginger, minced; ½ tsp fennel seeds; ½ tsp mustard seeds; 1 ½ tsp curry powder; 1 tsp salt, divided; 1 Tbsp tomato paste; 2 small tomatoes, diced; 1 + cup water; 2 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice; 4 cups of cooked white rice; ¼ cup cilantro, chopped - as garnish; ¼ cup green onions, sliced - as garnish

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This roasted mashed eggplant curry with tomato recipe is served over rice. Mashed eggplant cooks with fresh tomato, tomato paste, curry powder, onions, garlic and ginger and forms a smooth eggplant sauce.

Top down view of white plate with rice and red curry garnished with sliced green onions and green herbs. Silverware on the side. Close up.

The rich and smooth eggplant tomato curry sauce is perfect over rice or with naan or roti. This is a highly modified version of what I believe is called Baingan Bharta.

Ingredients on a wood cutting board: cilantro, sliced onions, diced tomatoes, diced onions, ginger, garlic, tomato paste, and saucers of spices.

The woman who taught me how to cook was from Mauritius. She was French but cooked mostly Indian food since that was the food and ingredients that surrounded her.

This mashed eggplant curry dish is not her recipe but it reminds me of her and the way her house smelled. It brings me back to her lunch table that had every leftover in the book.

Roasted eggplant cut in half like a book.

Mashed Eggplant Tomato Curry Substitutions

Roasted eggplant tomato curry is versatile. There may appear to be alot of ingredients but some can be omitted either because you don't like them or don't have them.

I'm not a purist in the fact that I love ingredients and have never been to India. These are flavors and spices that I have cooked with over the decades and that taste good to me. Try these variations:

Instead of green onion and cilantro garnish, try basil, mint, or rosemary
Leave out the fennel or mustard seeds.
Leave out the lemon juice or vinegar if you don't like extra tang.
Make it spicy by adding a hot pepper of some sort, like jalapeno, serrano, or ghost pepper.

Stainless steel saucepan of red curry. Top down view.

Leave In The Eggplant Seeds in Mashed Eggplant Curry

Eggplant seeds can be bitter. If possible, choose two firm smallish eggplants over one huge eggplant. It will have less seeds and the seeds will also be less bitter.

If the seeds remove easily then by all means remove the seeds. Having said that, this eggplant tomato curry recipe is supposed to be easy and simple so leave most of the seeds.

The tomatoes also have seeds and we're not gonna remove those either!

Two white plates filled with rice topped with a red curry and sliced green onions and green herbs. Green salt and pepper shaker on the side.

Mashed Roast Eggplant Tomato Curry

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This roasted mashed eggplant curry with tomato recipe is served over rice. Mashed eggplant cooks with fresh tomato, tomato paste, curry powder, onions, garlic and ginger and forms a smooth sauce.

Author: Beckie Hemmerling
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 75 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 40 minutes
Yield: 4
Category: Main Dish
Method: oven and stovetop
Cuisine: Indian
Diet: Vegetarian

Ingredients

2 small or 1 large eggplants (~2 lbs total)
4 tablespoon + olive oil
¾ cup onion, diced
2 teaspoon garlic, minced
2 teaspoon ginger, minced
½ teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon mustard seeds
1 ½ teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon salt, divided
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 small tomatoes, diced
1 + cup water
2 teaspoon white vinegar or lemon juice
4 cups of cooked white rice
¼ cup cilantro, chopped - as garnish
¼ cup green onions, sliced - as garnish

Instructions

Roast the eggplant:

Preheat oven to 425F. Line a baking sheet for easy clean up if preferred.
Take a knife and puncture whole eggplant several times. Place on baking sheet and cook for ~1 hour (turning once at 30 minutes) or until deflated, tender, and leaky.
Let eggplant cool 15 minutes (careful it's hot!). Cut in half lengthwise and peel (it should peel easily)
Scoop all the flesh from the skin and mash with your hands, pulse with a food processor, or roughly chop. Seed removal is optional. I remove large seed clumps but leave the rest.

Make the eggplant curry:

Bring a large pan to medium high heat and add olive oil and onions. Cook 3-5 minutes or until translucent.
Add garlic and ginger and cook 1-2 minutes or until fragrant.
Add fennel seeds, mustard seeds, and curry powder, and ½ teaspoon salt. Cook 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Add more oil if dry.
Stir in the tomato paste (it will be clumpy). Add more oil if dry.
Stir in fresh diced tomatoes, 1 cup water, eggplant, and ½ teaspoon salt.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer covered for 15-20 minutes. This is a thick curry but feel free to add a little more water if it's too thick.
Add olive oil, salt, and a splash of vinegar to taste.
Serve over rice and garnish with fresh cilantro and green onions.

Notes

Removing big chunks of eggplant seeds is optional. I leave most of them but will remove some of them sometimes if there is a huge cluster that removes easily.
Fennel seeds and mustard seeds are optional but do give extra dimension to the sauce. I also make this recipe all the time without them.

Things In My Kitchen:

pastry scraper - One of my favorite kitchen things for picking up food from the cutting board & transferring to bowls or pans.
cutting board - 18 x 14 x .75 is my board. Sustainably harvested, easy on knives, got the juice grooves, and pretty.

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