Melt-In-Your-Mouth Eggplant Curry
There’s something truly magical about a well-cooked eggplant (that’s aubergine to us Brits!). If it’s cooked well, it seriously melts in your mouth, soaking up whatever flavours you cook it with, and turning soft, silky, and utterly delicious.
This eggplant curry is the perfect comfort food – packed with wholesome ingredients, it will warm you up from the inside out.
This vegetarian curry is so easy to make – it’s just a case of roasting all the veggies together, then combining them with the sauce. I added coconut milk to make it really rich and creamy. Don’t forget some rice or naan bread to mop up the sauce, or poppadoms for scooping!
⭐️ Do I Need to Roast the Eggplant?
Yes! Roasting the eggplant is essential in this recipe. I mean, technically you could cook everything on the stovetop if you prefer, but roasting is what gives the eggplant that melt-in-your-mouth texture, so it’s non-negotiable in my eyes.
It’s so interesting how different the texture is between roasted eggplant and sautéed eggplant. If it’s sautéed, it can sometimes end up a bit tough, whereas as soon as it’s roasted, it becomes super soft and silky.
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🥗 Ingredients and Substitutions
Here’s what you’ll need to make this recipe. See the printable recipe card below for detailed ingredient quantities.
- eggplants – I used two medium ones.
- red onion
- tomatoes – use good quality ones with a rich flavour.
- canned lentils
- coconut milk
- curry paste – I used a korma paste, which isn’t too spicy. Whatever curry paste you choose, make sure it’s vegetarian.
- garlic – I used minced garlic from a jar.
- fresh cilantro (coriander)
If you’d like to, you could easily adapt this recipe:
- The canned lentils could be replaced by canned chickpeas or your favourite kind of bean.
- You can add any other vegetables that can roast up with the eggplant, e.g. mushrooms, peppers, sweet potato, etc.
- Or, add some vegetables to the saucepan along with the curry sauce – e.g. frozen peas or sweetcorn.
Becca’s Top Tip
If you like things hot, choose a spicy curry paste like a madras. Or, keep things milder with a korma paste (or anything in between!).
📹 Recipe Video
🖨️ Printable Instructions
Melt-In-Your-Mouth Eggplant Curry
If you’ve cooked this recipe, don’t forget to leave a star rating!
Print Pin CommentIngredients
- 2 medium eggplants (aubergines) (~ 600g / ~ 1 1/3 lb total)
- 500 g tomatoes (~ 1 lb / 5 large tomatoes)
- 1 red onion
- 2 Tablespoons oil, divided
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 390 g tin green lentils, drained (235g, or ~ 1 1/3 cups, when drained)
- 2 Tablespoons curry paste (I used korma paste)
- 400 ml tin coconut milk (~ 1 1/2 cups)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Few sprigs fresh coriander (cilantro)
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 190°C (Gas Mark 5 / 375°F).
- Cut the eggplant and tomatoes into chunky dice – around an inch or so. Cut the red onion into wedges. Add all three vegetables to a large baking tray, and drizzle with a little oil. Mix well.
- Roast the vegetables in the oven for around 30 minutes, until fairly soft and beginning to crisp up.
- When the vegetables are fairly soft, heat a dash of oil in a large saucepan, and add the minced garlic. Cook for a minute or two, then add the roasted vegetables, drained can of lentils, curry paste, and coconut milk.
- Mix well, and cover with a lid. Leave to simmer over a medium heat for at least 10 minutes, or until you’re ready to serve.
- Season to taste, and serve topped with fresh cilantro. I had mine with rice.
Video
Nutrition
Nutritional information is approximate, and will depend on your exact ingredients. Please calculate your own nutritional values if you require accuracy for health reasons.
💭 Recipe FAQs
Yes – it reheats nicely, so cook it fully and then reheat when necessary.
Once cooled, transfer any leftover curry to an air-tight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 days. Reheat thoroughly in the microwave or in a saucepan.
I usually like to serve curry with some rice and / or naan bread to soak up the sauce. This time I also served a few mini poppadoms on the side, which were fun for dipping.
We don’t go a lot on curry, so I missed out the curry powder and used cinnamon, paprika and lots of herbs instead (kind of Moroccan end result rather than Indian). Delicious! And yes, melt-in-the-mouth.
Ooh nice improvisation! Sounds good!
Wow , loved this recipe.
So tasty , wasn’t sure it would be , but looks are deceiving. Served with rice . Will experiment with different curry pastes
Absolutely, different curry pastes would be a good way to change things up! Glad you enjoyed it :)
I love your recipes……….
Thank you!
I made this for our evening meal today and it was lovely. I used Cannellini beans and Pataks Balti paste as it’s what I had in the cupboard. There was a lot more liquid than I expected probably because of the tomatoes and coconut milk, but still delicious.
Thanks Den! Glad you enjoyed it :)