Friday, August 21, 2009

Cari Chay



It's easy to fall in love with a gorgeous eggplant at the farmer's market... the only problem is what to do with it when you bring it home. You can always make a wonderful eggplant parmesan, or add it to a pasta sauce that includes the tomatoes you are trying to find inventive uses for. But this beautiful grapefruit sized Asian Eggplant had Curry written all over it. I was going to use this eggplant in a tomato based curry until I remembered a simple Vietnamese Cari Chay (Vegetable and Tofu Curry) that I had seen in one of my curry books.


This is a simple curry that is just a Coconut Milk broth spiced with Indian Curry Powder and sweetened with Palm Sugar. There are no hot spices or curry pastes in this dish...







Start by frying some onions, garlic, and sweet peppers in oil...




When the onions are golden brown, add the Curry Powder and Palm Sugar. Allow this to fry for another five minutes while the palm sugar melts and slightly caramelizes...





Now add the Coconut Milk, and a few splashes of Fish Sauce. Bring to a slow boil...





Now add diced Tofu...




Add diced Eggplant and some fresh Thai Basil. Cover the pot and simmer on low heat for about 15 minutes, or until the Eggplant is tender...





Serve over Jasmine Rice and enjoy!


5 comments:

Heather Li said...

I'm not a big fan of eggplant but that curry looks perfect!

(Plus, I actually really loved the picture of the eggplant. I've never seen that variety before.)

Christopher Paquette said...

Thanks Heather! Glad you liked it...

Jo said...

I've been away for a couple of weeks, so I've just been catching up on what's been happening in your corner of the world.
I'm sorry to hear that you have the dreaded blight. It's affected alot of people over here in the UK, but my plants aren't showing any signs of it yet. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
The fruit you're getting looks as top-notch as the veggies do. It all looks delicious.
I enjoyed reading this last post, as I've managed to grow aubergines (eggplant) myself for the first time this year. On returning from my holiday, there were three aubergines on the plant ready to pick.

Unknown said...

Jo-

One of the hardest things for me to learn and accept is that most of the results of gardening are out of my control. We are at the mercy of so many unforeseen factors. Just have to hope for a good tomato season next year and enjoy what I am given this year.

It's always nice to try something new and have success with it! Glad that happened for you with Eggplants!

Best-

Anonymous said...

Wow, that is a nice looking eggplant. Almost too nice to eat, eh?

I'll have to see if I can find it for next year.