Eggplant, Tomato and Spinach Vegetarian Curry
We know curry for being a delicious recipe consisting of a mix of spices that you can add directly to your dishes. There’s also an Indian dish known by the same name, which consist of meats (or vegetables, if it’s a vegetarian curry) cooked in a sauce made with different spices.
These three vegetables complement each other perfectly and they have powerful nutritional properties. Eggplants are rich in water, and eating them provides you with potassium. Tomatoes are very popular due to their high beta-carotene content. Spinach also contains beta-carotene, as well as vitamins K and A, in large amounts.
Eggplants, tomatoes and spinach are popular vegetables due to the benefits they have for our health, and people use them in many recipes, especially in vegetarian recipes.
Because it has a strong taste, people usually eat curry for the extra source of flavor. Meaning, they dip pieces of bread, cookies, vegetables and other foods with a plain taste in it.
You can also pair the recipe that we cover in this article, with rice. The most popular one is basmati rice, which has a long grain, soft fragrance and a delicious taste.
Another way to eat curry is with naan bread, which is a round and flat bread made with wheat flour. It’s similar to the popular Arabic or pita bread. However, naan bread is made in a clay oven and the production process is more complex.
A bit of information about curry
The word curry comes from the word ‘kari’, a word from the Tamil language. The people who speak this language live in the south of India. It’s a word that refers to any dish accompanied with rice. It morphed into the term ‘curry’ because of the way that English people referred to stews with lots of spices.
We call it curry or garam masala, when all of the spices come together in powder form. The resulting product may include lots of spices, such as:
- Chili
- Saffron
- Basil
- Caraway
- Cinammon
- Dehydrated onions
- Cardamom
- Cumin
- Celery
- Coriander
- Nutmeg
- Ginger
- Mustard
- Tamarind
- Cayenne pepper
The mixture has a color that varies from yellow to brown, depending on the proportions of the spices.
The use of curry has spread all over the world, with delicious adaptations in different cuisines. For example, nowadays, Asian, Japanese and British cuisines among others, all enjoy curry.
Eggplant, tomato and spinach vegetarian curry
As we mentioned before, this vegetarian curry recipe includes three highly nutritious vegetables. It’s a recipe to make enough curry for about four people.
Ingredients:
- 2 eggplants
- 2 tomatoes
- 2.8 ounces of fresh spinach
- 1 cup of veggie broth
- One onion
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1.7 ounces of fresh ginger
- 0.3 ounces of cumin powder
- 0.4 ounces of garam masala
- 0.2 ounces of ground coriander
- 0.3 ounces of ground turmeric
- 2.6 ounces of tomato puree
- One cayenne pepper
- 1.8 ounces of sunflower oil
- Olive oil or 5 tablespoons of ghee (clarified Indian butter)
- Salt
Preparation:
1. Peel and dice the onion into small cubes.
2. Peel the garlic cloves and the ginger.
3. In a food processor, mix the onion, garlic, ginger, cayenne pepper (without the seeds), the rest of the spices (garam masala, cumin, turmeric, coriander), the tomato puree and the sunflower oil. When you get a homogeneous mixture with no visible chunks, place it aside.
4. Wash and chop the eggplants and tomatoes into small cubes.
5. Wash the spinach and dry it properly.
6. In a pan, add a dash of olive oil and warm up the spice mix.
7. Next, add the eggplant to the sauce, cooking it over a low heat for 10 minutes while you constantly stir it.
8. Then add the vegetable broth and cook everything over a low heat for 20 minutes.
9. Afterwards, add the tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes.
10. Lastly, add the spinach to poach it.
11. Add salt to taste and remove from the heat.
12. When you serve it, sprinkle some coriander on top and season to taste.
You can totally vary the proportions of spices in this eggplant, tomato and spinach vegetarian curry; maybe add legumes, potatoes, rice, etc. You can also keep it in the fridge for a couple of days, although it’s best if you eat it immediately.
