Thai Green Curry Eggplant

I was speaking with someone a few weeks ago about how ridiculous it is to buy curry pastes. I remember when I first got into Thai cooking how impossible it seemed to make your own curry paste. There were so many ingredients and so much oil and it seemed so complicated. And then you could just buy these small bottles of paste and dump them into a frying pan with some chicken and vegetables (in a certain order, but following the siple instructions on the side of the bottle). Add a can of coconut milk and voilà, green or re curry.

But then I discovered the ways of Ottolenghi and Selengut. They keep green curry simple. If you dont have fresh or frozen Kaffir lime leaves you can use dried, or lime zest. Paste is the best way to use up coriander stems. And toasted whole spices freshly ground are great, but you’ll be fine if you don’t grind them 5 minutes before blitzing them in a blender. And that’s the miracle of curry sauce nowadays. Where once you were supposed to squat over a giant mortar and pestle and bruise all the ingredients until they became a paste, now we have blenders. Sure, people they grind too fine and don’t extract flavour the same way, but if it’s a choice between curry sauce and no curry sauce, I’ll take the blender. Not so for the choice before store-bought or homemade, however.

The other nice thing about curry is you can toss in anything. Not like stir-fry where you toss in everything at once, but you can do a chicken curry (maybe a few red or green peppers with the onions), or fish, or eggplant or zucchini (no peppers, just onions). And the upside of the latter two is that they cook so quickly. Supper is ready in a jiffy, and from things you just happen to have lying around (especially if you freeze your cilantro stems…because what else are you going to use them for?).

The other thing about eggplant curry is it looks ugly. But that’s good, because it means more for you and less for anyone who’s snooty about food looking pretty and doesn’t know how to use their tongue. There are many reasons to distance yourself from these people. Unless they are family, in which case you’re stuck. Really, though, the more people in your life who can appreciate a green eggplant curry for the ugly, delicious comforting stew that it is, the better. You’ll just have to make a double batch. Fortunately, many hands make light work.

Thai Green Curry Paste

• In a blender combine 1 stalk lemongrass (I keep mine frozen in chunks and toss in a handful), since goodness lemongrass doesn’t grow in these parts and is not widely available. You can also buy it in bottles and add just 3 tbsp),
  1 or 2 hot chili peppers (jalapenos, or cayennes, preferably green but see point above about why aesthetics are for former friends),
  1 minced shallot (or 1/4 cup minced onion, preferably red),
  4 peeled cloves garlic,
  1″ peeled fresh (or frozen ginger – same thing I do for the lemongrass but I peel it before freezing. A spoon is handy for this),
  1 cup cilantro stems and leaves (or a mix of cilantro and basil)
  1/2 tsp. ground cumin
  1/2 tsp. ground pepper (white if you have it – it’s milder)
  1/2 tsp. ground coriander
  3 Tbsp. fish sauce or soy sauce
  2 Tbsp. lime juice
  1 tsp. brown sugar (or palm sugar, or white sugar and a drop of molasses)
  3-4 Tbsp. coconut milk or almond milk or water (enough to blend ingredients together)

Sauté paste in 2 tbsp sunflower, coconut or sesame oil over medium high for 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add 4 cups of cubed eggplant (peeled and salted and left to drain in a strainer for 10 minutes if you want. This is a good idea with large purple ones that seems a bit less youthful than yourself).

Stir and cook 3 minutes then add 1 cup chicken or vegetable broth or (or 1 cup coconut milk if you like it really rich, or somewhere in between. Or just water if you’re desperate) and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes until eggplant is tender. Add at least 4 tbsp of coconut milk or almond milk and serve with Jasmine or Basmati or other long grain rice.

You can also make the paste in advance and store it in the fridge for up to a week before using it. Take that, bottled sauces. Though those can last much longer once opened, I’d rather the preservatives stay in the bottle and out of me.
Feel free to replace the eggplant with chicken or fish, but add the fish near the end and don’t overcook. In fact, for wild Pacific salmon or other tender (and hopefully sustainable) fish, add them to the boiling curry and turn off the heat. Cover for max 5 minutes, until fish is tender and opaque.