Eggplant with Tomatoes

Name: Eggplant with Tomatoes
Yield: serves 4¿6
Ingredients: 1 1/2–1 3/4 pounds medium-sized eggplants, cut into chunks as suggested above; Salt; 5 tablespoons olive, canola, or peanut oil; 1 teaspoon whole black or yellow mustard seeds; 1/2 teaspoon whole cumin seeds; 1/2 teaspoon whole fennel seeds; 1/2 teaspoon whole nigella seeds (if available); 1 dried hot red chili; 2 cloves garlic, chopped; 2 cups (12 ounces) peeled and chopped tomatoes, or grated tomatoes (page 289); 1/4 teaspoon sugar

December 9, 2011

You need medium-sized egglants for this. I use the purple kind, 5 of them, each weighing about 5 ounces, and then cut them, unskinned, into 2” × 1” chunks, each chunk with skin on at least one side. Normally, eggplant chunks require frying first to give them their unctuous, satiny texture, after which they may be folded into a variety of sauces—here it is a tomato sauce. But I have found a less oily way around that; I broil them instead. You serve this dish hot with a lamb or chicken curry or cold, as a salad, with cold meats, Indian (such as Tandoori-Style Chicken with Mint) or Western.

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