While visiting India in July I enjoyed the hotel buffets which I attended with colleagues. I have previously written about grilled dishes and starters but did not describe some of the curries and chutneys. Some were rather different from the ones I have had at home. For example I enjoyed bhajees which were vegetable base curries with limited sauce as opposed to the bhajis that everybody seems to know about here.

After getting home I searched the net for some ideas and came across this recipe. Although I liked the final result I did not like frying aubergines in oil as they absorb so much. I gave up doing that with Italian style dishes over a decade ago and switched to grilling. My family complained that there was too little sauce. I tried the recipe again after a few weeks and this time grilled the aubergines and as I normally would; I also did considerably more sauce so 'curry' rather than 'bhajee'. Unfortunately serving the curry shortly after grilling the aubergines my family complained that the aubergines were "too dry". However when we ate the leftovers from the fridge a day or too later it was much improved.

Third time was much more popular and was as follows...

Ingredients

2 aubergines
2 medium onions
750 g passata
3 large garlic cloves
3 cm piece of ginger
2 fresh chillies
1 tsp fennel seed
1 tsp cumin seed
1 tsp black mustard
1 tsp kalonji seed
2 tsp turmeric
vegetable oil
salt

Method

1. Slice aubergines into 1 cm thick slices, brush with vegetable oil and put on tray.
2. Grill aubergines until browning then turn. Remove when ready and quarter the slices when cool.
3. Meanwhile chop the onions and sweat in vegetable oil in a pot for about 5 minutes.
4. Add cumin, mustard, kalonji & fennel seed and continue to heat for 10 minutes.
5. Finely chop the garlic, ginger and chilli then add to the pot.
6. Add the turmeric, salt and passata and mix well.
7. Add the aubergines and ensure they are covered with the sauce then simmer for 5 minutes and then leave to cool.
8. Store curry in the fridge for at least one day.
9. Bring to the boil and serve.