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Chetna Makan’s tamarind aubergine curry (imli baigan curry)

By: Chetna Makan

Chetna Makan’s imli baigan is a quick aubergine curry recipe with bags of flavour: fried onions and aubergine, fennel and a tamarind tang.

Recipe taken from Chetna’s 30-Minute Indian (£20, Mitchell Beazley), out now.

Chetna Makan’s imli baigan is a quick aubergine curry recipe with bags of flavour: fried onions and aubergine, fennel and a tamarind tang.

Recipe taken from Chetna’s 30-Minute Indian (£20, Mitchell Beazley), out now.

Ingredients

You’ll also need

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To prepare the aubergine, put it on a plate, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and set aside for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat 1 tbsp oil in a pan, add the asafoetida and sizzle for a few seconds. Add the onions and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes until golden.
Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan. Pat the aubergine fingers dry, add them to the hot oil and cook over a high heat for 2 minutes until golden.
While the aubergine is cooking, heat a small frying pan, add the fennel seeds and toast for 1 minute, then use a pestle and mortar to crush them.

Add the crushed fennel seeds to the onion pan and cook for a minute, then stir in the ground spices. Add the fried aubergine with 200ml water and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes.
Stir in the sugar and tamarind and cook over a high heat for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens, then serve.

Prepare the curry up to 1 day ahead. Store covered in the fridge and reheat gently over a low heat until piping hot to serve
Asafoetida is a powder made from the resin of a giant fennel plant, it has a pungent aroma that mellows when cooked to provide depth to curries, chutneys and pickles. It’s a common substitute for garlic and onion in Ayurvedic cooking.