Potato and aubergine curry

Like my mum used to say:

“Every Indian girl should know how to make a simple Gujarati meal”

At a young age I didn't want to learn how to cook and just wanted to be out of the kitchen using every excuse, but my mum could always see right through me!

Learning my mum’s cooking skills at such a young age has provided me with such a valuable skill that has gotten me through university and has ensured that my dad and brother’s don’t go hungry while my mum was visiting her family in India.

One of the main reasons why so many Indian girls are taught how to cook a basic meal at such a young age is because when they get married, a girl is expected to know how to cook, so that she will be able to prepare a nutritious meal for her family.    

The style of cooking and the taste of each dish varies slightly depending on the girl and mother’s teachings, but more significantly the region of where the family come from in relation to the state of Gujarat.  There can be many variations from family to family and I for one have adapted accordingly.  I have taken my mum’s teachings and my mother in law’s teachings, to create my own style and taste, which I can then pass on to my daughter and daughter in law and it keeps my fussy husband happy!

You may think why am I writing a blog with no qualifications in cooking, no restaurant experience and my career is not in the slightest related to cooking.  

The simple reason is that both my husband and I love our food!

So here is my first recipe, I hope you enjoy making and eating this as much as my husband and kids do!

Potato and Aubergine Curry

Ingredients

2 tbsp Sunflower oil

½ Tin of chopped tomatoes

3 Fresh tomatoes, diced

2 tbsp Tomato puree

Handful of coriander, finely chopped (and some for garnishing)

1½ tsp Salt

¾ tsp Chilli powder

2½ tsp Ground coriander and cumin seeds

¼ tsp Turmeric

300g Small red potatoes, chopped

100g Aubergine, chopped

150 ml warm water

½ weetabix

Method

Heat a large saucepan and add the oil, tin tomatoes and fresh tomatoes and coriander.  Cover and leave on a medium heat for 5 minutes or until the fresh tomatoes are soft.

Next add the tomato puree and mix this in to the sauce, then you need to add the coriander, leave some for garnishing!

Add all your spices: Salt, chilli powder, turmeric, ground coriander and cumin and mix this in to the sauce.  Lastly add the potatoes and let them cook for 5 minutes and then add the aubergine, as this does not take long to cook and you will find that aubergines soak up a lot of liquid! This is why you need to keep the water to hand.  At the very end crumble the weetabix into the curry and let it simmer for 5 minutes, this will help to thicken the sauce.

Let the curry cook on a medium heat for 15 minutes and remember to keep checking on it, you may need to add water from time to time, but you shouldn’t need more than 150 ml.  You will know that this curry is done when the potatoesare cooked but still slightly firm.  

You don’t necessarily need to use chopped red potatoes, you can also use baby new potatoes (whole) or if you have some very small red potatoes, these can be stuffed using the fresh tomatoes and spices stated above and then cook as per normal with the aubergine.

Another alternative is to stuff the aubergine too.  You can buy baby aubergines which can be cut and stuffed with the tomato mixture and cooked as stated above.

Serve with rotli and rice