Eggplant Curry with Basil & Tamarind
Cooking from our January cookbook club selection, One: Pot, Pan, Planet
I recently cooked my first recipe from our January cookbook club pick, One: Pot, Pan, Planet by Anna Jones. I chose the Eggplant Curry with Basil & Tamarind, mostly because I love both eggplant and curries, but rarely cook with tamarind and want to play around with new ingredients.
To start, let’s chat about the book! I’m so glad I own this one; it’s pretty to look at, with beautiful photography and design. Anna begins the book talking about the importance of celebrating food while remaining deeply conscious of the impact of our dietary choices. She lays out the different ways in which our food selections impact the planet, and includes ingredient sourcing information, a seasonal ingredient guide, and suggestions on how to minimize food waste.
There is an entire chapter that highlights common vegetables and pantry ingredients, with lists of simple preparation ideas for each one (a non-recipe recipe, if you will). This is, arguably, my favorite feature of the book, because I often find myself with, for example, some cauliflower or a bag of potatoes that need to be used up, but I don’t have the time or energy to make a new recipe - her approachable ideas provide much needed inspiration for making old foods new again.
The recipes are all plant based, and most of the vegetarian ones provide suggestions for veganizing things. I also love that many recipes include “seasonal variations”, so that you can cook in harmony with nature, no matter where you live.
On to the recipe! Overall, I really liked the Eggplant Curry with Basil & Tamarind, rating it at a 7/10. It turned out yummy, and didn’t make a huge mess of my kitchen, but took a bit longer than I would normally spend on dinner (upwards of an hour, including clean up time, but I generally clean as I go). This isn’t the best recipe if you’re a true beginner, and better suited for slightly more seasoned cooks. But, if you’re up for the challenge, it’s not impossible either! If you’re interested in trying out the recipe but don’t own the book, she has it up on her website (though you may have to do some metric conversions, since she’s based in the UK).
A few notes: it’s not clear from the recipe (as written) to the exact size of the eggplant, which can be confusing. It says 4 medium eggplants, but doesn’t specify the kind of eggplant. I chose graffiti eggplant, mostly because it was what was available at my grocery store, but because conventional globe eggplants just seemed too big for a curry. It ended up being just the right amount (so, if all you can find are globe eggplants, I’d buy 2-3, depending on how big they are).
I also found that the instruction to cut lengthwise into 4 pieces was relatively vague, in terms of size. I cut mine into the 4 pieces, but then cut each piece again, crosswise, to form 8 equal sized pieces per eggplant, roughly 1 1/2” wide and 3-4” long. I would not cut the eggplant pieces any thicker than this (1 1/2” wide), as it might not cook through completely in time.
Other things to note:
-I increased the garlic (obviously) to 5 cloves.
-I did not have lime leaves, so instead squeezed the juice of 1/2 a large lime into the curry at the end (per Anna’s suggestion)
-I used fresh tomatoes in my curry (it ended up being about 2 medium sized tomatoes), and for the fresh chili, I used a red Fresno (seeds and all), which made for a mildly spicy curry.
-Last, the recipe doesn’t call for any salt, so I just seasoned as I went, to taste.
The end result was very flavorful and satisfying, especially over some freshly steamed rice. I’ll probably make this one again, but most likely on a weekend, when I have a bit more time to spend on dinner.
Have you made this curry yet? What do you think of One: Pot, Pan, Planet so far? If you make anything from our January book, be sure to tag me on Instagram (@lauren_kretzer) and use our hashtag, #plantmagiccookbookclub.
Thank you i found it
Is there another payment