Monday, August 15, 2011

Roasted Baby Eggplant with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

Roasted Baby Eggplant with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce

Happy Monday!

It's another beautiful day in sunny California. We've had a relatively cool summer with idyllic temperatures. Clear, sunny, 70's to low 80's. Let's hope it lasts!

The highlights of my weekend (apart from getting all of my laundry done), included a fabulous dinner at Tasca Wine Bar (they're launching a new Happy Hour--I'll post on it later this week), a showing of RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES (my new favorite movie), and a fun dinner with friends at Hollywood gastropub Fat Dog. It was a packed weekend, full of food and friends and uber-intelligent primates.

What news do I have to share? Meatless Monday is featuring my recipe for Blackberry Walnut Muffins this week! So check it out.


In the meantime, here's my new food obsession -- Roasted Baby Eggplant. I found these beauties at the Studio City Farmers Market yesterday. Baby eggplant are delicate and tender, without any of the bitterness of their adult counterparts.


I debated how I wanted to cook them, but ultimately opted for an Indian-inspired take. I halved the baby eggplant and tossed them with olive oil, curry powder, and a little salt. Then, I roasted them in the oven, and topped them with a spicy, garlicky yogurt sauce flecked with cilantro.

The resulting dish was fabulous -- flavorful, creamy, spicy, and everything in between. I could eat a hundred of these! And before eggplant season is over, I just might...


Roasted Baby Eggplant with Cilantro Yogurt Sauce
Serves 4-6 people
Cooking time: About 40-50 minutes
Vegetarian; gluten-free
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  • about 6 cups baby eggplant, halved
  • 2 tablespoons curry powder
  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • 1 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, plus more for garnishing
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 serrano or jalapeno pepper (optional)

Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Toss the eggplant with the olive oil, curry powder, and salt. Arrange in an ovenproof dish, cut side up. Cover and bake for 20 minutes. 
  3. Uncover the dish and roast for another 20-30 minutes, or until the eggplant are tender and lightly browned. Remove from the oven.
  4. Meanwhile, to make the sauce, place the yogurt, garlic, cilantro, lemon, and pepper in a food processor or blender. Process until smooth. Season to taste with salt.
  5. To plate, spread the eggplant cut side up on a serving platter. Top with the Cilantro Yogurt Sauce. Finish with a sprinkling of chopped cilantro. Enjoy!

Source for Ingredients
  • baby eggplant and cilantro from the Studio City Farmers Market
  • hot curry powder from All Spice
  • organic plain nonfat Greek yogurt, organic lemons, organic garlic, and extra virgin olive oil from Trader Joe's

7 comments:

  1. Stumbled upon this recipe yesterday and made it last night...was absolutely delicious! Thanks!

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    1. Oh, I love this recipe! I'm so glad you stumbled across it. Thanks for taking the time to let me know. xx

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  2. We're gonna make this! We have a bunch of baby eggplant from the Indian grocery.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, I adore this recipe! Glad you found it and are trying it out. Let me know how it turns out. xx Jen

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    2. This turned out very well. We did, however, use authentic curry powder and found it more potent than its Stateside version. Still an excellent dish. We used organic yogurt instead of the "Greek" variety and added a bit of lime, mint, and coriander to the mix. The food processor and I are not well acquainted so a whisk had to do for the time being. The sauce is reminiscent of Indian fare from the Punjab. It can also be used as a side with cucumber salads. We made a bit of "pico de gallo" as a garnish-so versatile. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. The sauce is worth its weight in gold!

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    Replies
    1. Yup, totally agree there. It's also great on grilled fish, vegetables, and all kinds of stuff. xx Jen

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