I’m really not a huge fan of eggplant, and even though this recipe calls for it, I wasn’t planning to put it in. However, I happened to have some eggplant from the garden, so I decided that I might as well use it. It turned out to be quite delicious, although we didn’t really have enough eggplant in it to make it a feature of the dish. The recipe as a whole is a good outlet for a number of vegetables if you happen to have them. It originally called for okra, but I would imagine you could pretty much use any vegetable you thought would be tasty.

Coconut Vegetable Curry (adapted from Bon Appetit, Oct. 2007)

5 Tbl. Butter

1 lg. onion, coarsely chopped

6 Thai eggplants, quartered

3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4 inch thick coins

1 patty pan squash, sliced

1 lb. sliced mushrooms

1 1/2 lbs. tomatoes, chopped (or 1+ cans of diced tomatoes)

Sauce:

5 Tbl. butter

1 lb. onion, chopped fine

1 Tbl minced fresh ginger

1 garlic clove, minced

1 1/2 tsp. mustard seeds

1 tsp. turmeric

1/2 tsp. fenugreek seeds

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper

1 1/2 to 2 tsp. salt

2 c. coconut milk

1/4 c. lime juice

1. Saute each of the vegetables individually with some butter until they are just beginning to get tender and then place them in a bowl. (You can put all the sauteed veggies in a bowl together.) Toss the tomatoes in with the carrots when you cook them. The eggplant and mushrooms can also be sauteed together.

2. Saute the onions for the sauce until they are golden brown, then add the garlic and ginger. Saute for 1 minute.

3. Add all the spices and saute for 1 minute.

4. Add back all the vegetables and add 1 tsp. salt.

5. Add coconut milk and bring to a simmer. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Add lime juice and season to taste again.

Serve as a stew or over rice.