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This Eggplant Curry combines roasted eggplant and tomatoes with warm spices and a red curry paste shortcut, delivering the comfort of baingan bharta in under an hour. The roasting step caramelizes the vegetables before they're mashed into a fragrant onion-spice base for depth without lengthy simmering.
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Gather ingredients. Preheat oven to 450℉.
Prepare fresh ingredients: cut eggplants in quarters, cut tomatoes in quarters, peel garlic, and dice onion.
Toss eggplant and tomatoes in 1 Tbsp olive oil and ½ tsp salt.
Spread out on a lined baking sheet and roast together for 35 min.
In a dry skillet or sauté pan, add garam masala, cumin, and black pepper and toast until fragrant over medium-low heat, about 3 minutes.
Add butter, remaining olive oil, onions, remaining salt, and curry paste to the pan. (Scrape out the last drips of olive oil and salt from your veggie mixing bowl, too!) Mix together and cook over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, until onions have softened.
Mince the garlic and grate the fresh ginger. Add it to the onions sautéing in the pan. Cook for another 3-4 minutes. When your veggies have about 3-5 minutes left in the oven, turn the oven on to broil to get some more color on your tomatoes and eggplant pieces.
If your veggies still need more time in the oven. You can turn the heat down to low on the skillet until you’re ready to add the veggies from the oven to your skillet. Stir occasionally to make sure they don’t burn.
Add tomatoes, fresh parsley, and eggplant to your skillet. Turn the skillet back up to medium heat if you turned it off while the veggies in the oven finished!) Gently peel off the blistered eggplant skin. Don’t sweat it if some of the skin remains!
Mash the tomatoes and eggplant into the seasoned onion mixture until well-combined. I use a wooden spoon to achieve this.
Let the mixture simmer for another 10 minutes over medium-low heat. I love to serve this hot over basmati rice with naan!
Written automatically by CookOS, not by the creator.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days; reheat gently over medium-low heat on the stovetop or microwave in 1-minute intervals. May be prepared through the roasting step and refrigerated up to 1 day ahead.
Written automatically by CookOS, not by the creator.
Yes. Thai red curry paste works well here and will shift the flavor profile slightly toward Southeast Asian spices, which still pairs beautifully with roasted eggplant and tomatoes.
That's normal. The recipe notes not to worry if some skin remains. Gently peel off the blistered parts and leave the rest; it adds texture and is edible.
Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat gently over medium-low heat on the stovetop, stirring occasionally, or microwave in 1-minute intervals.
Yes, you can roast the eggplant and tomatoes up to 1 day ahead and store them in the fridge. Complete the recipe by cooking the onion-spice base and combining everything just before serving for best flavor and texture.
This recipe uses the red curry paste as a shortcut instead of building spice layers from individual aromatics and ground spices alone, making it faster while maintaining the roasted, mashed eggplant character of baingan bharta.
