Tamarind Eggplant

I collected this recipe years ago in Rajasthan and it’s one of my all-time favourite eggplant dishes. I love its deeply satisfying sweet and sour notes. Serve it with other vegetable dishes or as an accompaniment to grilled fish or barbecued meats.

600ml vegetable oil, for deep-frying

4 x 300g purple eggplants, quartered lengthwise and cut into 3cm pieces

4 tomatoes, seeded and diced

1 cup chopped coriander leaves 3 tablespoons fried shallot slices, to serve

TAMARIND SAUCE

3 small red onions, peeled and finely diced

5 small green chillies, minced

8 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon fresh curry leaves 150g brown sugar

400ml tamarind puree

1 teaspoon ground cumin

2 teaspoons sea salt flakes

Heat the oil in a wok or large pot to 180°C. Fry the eggplant, in batches, for 4-5 minutes or until golden. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. Set aside. Reserve the oil.

Tamarind sauce: Heat ¹⁄³ cup of the reserved oil in a wok or frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion, chilli and garlic and cook, stirring continuously, for 1 minute or until beginning to colour. Add the curry leaves and cook for 1 minute or until wilted. Add the sugar, tamarind, cumin and salt and simmer gently for a further 5 minutes. Adjust seasoning, if necessary. There should be equal balance between the sweet, sour and salty flavours.

Add the fried eggplant, stir to coat thoroughly and simmer for 3 minutes. Remove from heat, stir through the diced tomato and coriander leaves. Scatter with fried shallot slices to serve. Serves 6