Name: Burnt Aubergine and Spinach Curry
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 3 large aubergines (eggplants) (about 1 kg/2 lb 4 oz); 1 tsp sugar; 1 tsp ground cumin; 2 tsp salt; 1 x 400-g (14-oz) can chopped tomatoes; 1 tsp ground coriander; ½ tsp ground turmeric; 2 tbsp oil; 1 tbsp cumin seeds; ½ tsp asafoetida (optional); ¼ tsp ground cinnamon; 1 whole head of garlic (about 8 large cloves), peeled and finely minced; Lemon wedges; 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander (cilantro); 1 large onion, finely chopped; 250 g (8¾ oz) baby leaf spinach, rinsed and squeezed of excess water; 3 hot green chillies, finely chopped; 3-4 hot green chillies, sliced; ½ small red onion, sliced

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy
Ready in
1 hr 10

Appears in

Sanjana Feasts

By Sanjana Modha

Published 2024

About

Sometimes you’ve just got to burn your food. I learnt to cook this dish when I was 12 years old and it blew my mind. After seeing my mother do it dozens of times before, I thought it was suitably daring to incinerate aubergines (eggplants) over an open flame. It went against everything I thought to be true about Indian vegetarian food. However, the very beauty of it is that whilst the outside of the aubergine burns to a crisp (think baba ghanoush), the inside is cooked until it’s butter-sof