Aubergine, peanut and tamarind curry

One of our favourites round here is Yoma - a little Burmese place. I've never eaten Burmese food anywhere else so cannot speak for its authenticity, but we love the tastes - all the best bits of Thai, Vietnamese and Indian food, pretty much. Tea salad is a favourite, and their chickpea tofu, and the coconut-pumpkin-tofu curry. The okra is also good. And aubergine, peanut and tamarind curry.

We had an increasing mass of various aubergines (including cute little green ones called Kermit) from the CSA. I was going to make the classic aubergine curry, but then on the way home went right off the idea of following a recipe and decided instead to make something up involving aubergine, peanut and tamarind. This is that.

~3 medium aubergines (or equivalent amount of small ones), trimmed and cut into ~2 in wedges
olive oil
salt
1 green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
2 in piece ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 small onion (or ~5 spring onions), peeled and chopped
~2 tbsp tomato puree
~2 tbsp peanut butter
~1 tbsp tamarind paste
juice of 1/2 lime
salt
water
peanuts (optional)

Heat the oven to 400F. Prepare the aubergines and put into a roasting tin. Sprinkle with salt and olive oil and mix. Put in the oven and roast for ~ 30 min, until tender and lightly browned.

Meanwhile, heat 1-2 tbsp oil in a large saucepan and add the chilli, garlic, ginger and onions. Cover and saute until soft. Mix the tomato puree, peanut butter, tamarind and lime juice in a bowl with ~ 1/2 tsp salt and enough water to make a thick, creamy sauce. Add to the chilli-garlic mixture and saute for a minute.

When the aubergines are ready, take out of the oven and add to the pan. Mix it all together, taste and adjust for salt and acid. If you have peanuts, you could chop and dry-fry some, then sprinkle over.


Different from the Yoma one, but good nonetheless. Even better the next day when everything has mellowed together. Even cold.