Steam aubergine instead of frying, use lots of tomatoes to replace coconut milk. It’s a super easy aubergine curry recipe with less oil and fat, yet tasty!
At first, I just wanted to make a new aubergine dish and came across with one Jamie Oliver’s recipe, called ‘Aubergine & tomato rogan josh‘. Although I don’t have any rogan josh paste on hand, I do have some Thai curry paste instead, so, why not?
A Curry Without Coconut Milk
One thing that caught my attention was how Jamie cooked the aubergine.
He first steamed it, then added some oil to fry it up a bit, at last transfered it to the oven to finish the job. Then I thought, eventually the aubergine will be soaking in the curry sauce, which means it won’t be crispy at all, why not just do the steaming and baking?
So I just steamed the aubergine, used little oil to fry the curry paste, added all tomatoes, everything stirred together and put into the oven.
Since the curry paste was flavourful enough, I merely used a pinch of salt for the couscous only. At the same time, the bunch of tomatoes are able to release enough water to contribute as a sauce, so you don’t need to add coconut milk either. Cut fat, fantastic!
Meltingly Tender Aubergine with Crunchy Nuts
Since the eggplant was steamed then baked, it turned out to be super tender but contained really less oil. You can scoop it! That’s why I think some crunchy nuts play a key part here, so you can enjoy soft and crunchy texture at the same time.
Serve with rice/couscous/flat bread
If you mash the curry into spread, you can serve it with flat bread or wrap, perhaps adding some fresh salad leaves would be a great idea too! Or you can serve it with couscous like I did, which has less carbs than rice and easier to prepare.
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 1 big aubergine (approx. 300 g)
- 80 ml water
- 500 g ripe tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 2 heaped tsp Thai yellow curry paste
- 30 g coriander, stalks chopped
- 30 g roasted nuts
For the Couscous
- 150 g couscous
- ¼ onion, diced
- ¼ tsp tumeric powder
- salt and pepper
How to Make Meltingly Tender Aubergine Curry Without Coconut Milk
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Score a criss-cross pattern on the flesh of the aubergine. Add 80 ml boiling water in an oven-proof pan, put the aubergine inside with skin side down. Steam about 10 mins.
- When the water has evaporated, add some oil and fry the curry paste until fragrant.
- Add tomatoes and coriander stalks, and stir well with the curry paste. Flip the aubergine to the flesh side down. Then put the whole pot to bake for 20-25 mins.
- Prepare couscous according to the instructions. The heat another pan with a little oil, fry the onions till translucent, add in couscous, turmeric, little salt and pepper for seasonings.
- Finally, assemble everything. Sprinkle over roasted nuts and coriander leaves, enjoy!
More Easy Aubergine Recipes
- Easy Viet Aubergine Recipe with Black Bean Sauce
- Moroccan Zaalouk (Aubergine and Tomato Vegan Spread)
- Blackened Aubergine with Soya Mince
- Viet. Style Aubergine Vermicelli with Fish Sauce Vinaigrette
