This vegan chickpea and eggplant curry is the perfect dish to serve to your meat-eating friends - they probably won't even notice it's vegan! It was one of my favourite meals when I was a meat-eater. It has a range of delicious flavours and textures and is super easy to make! Before I became vegan I had a list of about 10 meals I could cook well. This was the only meal from my list that I could still cook as a vegan and for a while it was my only 'good' vegan meal (the others were just adapted from my other 10 meals like tomato sauce and pasta without cheese, avocado sandwiches without bacon and egg fried rice without the egg). This is a great meal to cook for your friends and family (meat-eaters, vegetarians and vegans alike) because you can make the night before and reheat it when they arrive. This means that a) it will taste nicer, because curries get better with age and b) you won't have to get all flustered cooking in front of them (like I do).
As to cooking this on the road, it depends on how you travel: for those that have accommodation with a fully equipped kitchen when they travel: good Airbnbs, house sitters, people staying with family or friends - you'll obviously be fine and have all the equipment you need. For those that have accommodation with a poorly equipped kitchen when they travel: alright Airbnbs, people staying in hostels or hotels with a kitchen, you can probably manage - instead of grilling the aubergines you can fry them. Instead of using one pan for rice and one pan for the curry you can just cook the rice and set it aside and then cook the curry, aka just use one pan. For those that have accommodation with basically no kitchen when they travel: hotels and hostels with no kitchen, camping etc. I'm sorry but this curry isn't for you :( But for those who can make it, you're going to love it!
As for the ingredients - onions, rice, aubergines can be found almost anywhere in the world (within reason), but you might get a little stuck on the spices, which are the star of the show. Even Italy (a country renown for its cooking prowess) couldn't provide us garam masala, thus I recommend taking this with you - I don't like to recommend taking things with you, because everyone (including me) packs too heavily. But this curry is dope and just isn't without garam, so just take some with you okay.
1. How to Make Vegan Chickpea and Eggplant Curry
Preparation time: 3 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Total: 30 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
- 2 medium aubergines
- oil
- salt
- 1 large onion (or three small ones)
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp paprika
- extra chili to taste
- 2 tins of tomatoes
- 1 cup of rice
- 1 tin of drained chickpeas
2. Method:
1. Slice your aubergines thinly.
2. Drizzle generously with oil and salt and grill for about 20 minutes on 200 degrees Celsius until they look dark brown/green and greasy - like this:
2. Drizzle generously with oil and salt and grill for about 20 minutes on 200 degrees Celsius until they look dark brown/green and greasy - like this:
3. Meanwhile slice and fry onion.
4. Once onion is cooked, add gaham masala, paprika and chilli, cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add 2 tins of tomatoes, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
6. At the same time cook your rice (takes about 20 minutes).
7. At the end, add chickpeas and aubergine to the curry, stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes until chickpeas are hot.
8. Enjoy! Also, in case you need some additional visual help, here's a video I used as inspiration:
4. Once onion is cooked, add gaham masala, paprika and chilli, cook for 2-3 minutes.
5. Add 2 tins of tomatoes, bring to the boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.
6. At the same time cook your rice (takes about 20 minutes).
7. At the end, add chickpeas and aubergine to the curry, stir well and cook for 2-3 minutes until chickpeas are hot.
8. Enjoy! Also, in case you need some additional visual help, here's a video I used as inspiration:
