This South Indian Baked Eggplant Curry is made in the oven instead of the skillet. Eggplant / aubergines and red lentils are baked in a fragrant spiced tomato coconut milk sauce. So good served over rice or as soup! It's Glutenfree, nutfree and also soyfree.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 10 minutes
  • Cook time: 60 minutes
  • Total time: 70 minutes
  • Yield: 4
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

For the eggplant:

  • 2 teaspoons oil
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne or Indian red chili powder or use 1/2 teaspoon paprika instead for keeping it mild
  • 1 teaspoon or more garam masala or you can use sambar masala or Berbere
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large eggplant (chopped into 1-1 1/2 inches by 1/2 inch size cubes, or use small eggplants chopped into quarters)
  • 1/2 red onion (thinly sliced about 3/4 cup)
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1/2 inch ginger finely chopped or minced

For the sauce:

  • 1 teaspoon oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • 1/8 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
  • 12 curry leaves (fresh or frozen or dried)
  • 8 ounces tomato puree (use unseasoned tomato sauce or purée canned diced tomatoes)
  • 2 to 2 1/2 cups coconut milk (or other creamy non-dairy milk of choice, or use 1 15 ounce can of coconut milk and 1 cup of other non-dairy milk or water)
  • 1/4 cup split red lentils ((Masoor dal))
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • cilantro and lemon juice for garnish

Method

  1. Bake the eggplant: To a 9x11 inch or similar sized baking dish, add the oil and add all of the spices and salt and mix well.
  2. If the spices are getting too clumped up, add splashes of some water or few teaspoons of water so that the mixture is like a thin spice paste.
  3. Then add eggplants, onion, garlic, and ginger and toss really well to coat. Eggplants will shrink a lot so you need a dish where they are about doubled up in layer.
  4. Then bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit (205 degrees Celsius) for 25-30 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, make the tempering with mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds: Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds and cook until the seeds start to pop or change color. Then add the curry leaves and immediately take off heat. Be careful while adding the curry leaves because they will pop and splash a little bit. Keep this tempering aside.
  6. Remove the baking dish from the oven then add the tomato sauce, coconut milk, lentils, salt, and mix in. Add the tempering of mustard seeds and mix lightly.
  7. Then return the dish to the oven. Cover with a parchment and continue to bake for 25 minutes or until the lentils are cooked to preference and the sauce has thickened.
  8. If the sauce has thickened too much, you can gradually add in about 1/2 cup of warm non-dairy milk and mix in. Taste and adjust salt and flavor. Add more salt, spices if needed then mix in.
  9. Remove the dish from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes. Then garnish with cilantro the lemon juice and serve with rice or flatbread or dosa, or serve with garlic bread as bowl of soup.
  10. To make this into a soup, you can add in a little bit more non-dairy milk while the curry is still hot so that it gets a bit soupier and then serve with garlic bread.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.