UnRecipe: Creamy Eggplant Curry and Tofu

The welcome change in weather has inspired the making of soups, stews, and in this case, curry. We're still on Vacation Countdown at Wasabi HQ, but that doesn't keep the kitchen from continuing to crank out home-cooked goodness. A recent trip to the Redmond Farmer's Market yielded some colorful items like brightly-colored peppers and adorable little purple and white eggplants. I was inspired by a recent visit to my favorite Thai restaurant, Chantanee, and decided to make a Creamy Eggplant and Tofu Curry.

The heat is ON for spicy eggplant curry - Photo by Wasabi Prime

I particularly enjoy the combination of Thai flavors; it's always a satisfying mix of sweetness, complex spices, some heat, and a little bitterness. I took the chopped peppers and eggplant, cooked them down, and mixed in a dollop of store-bought red curry paste with some fresh lemongrass stalks. A can of coconut milk was added, then tofu, chopped Thai basil, and fresh spinach at the end. Everything simmered for a bit, letting the flavors combine and melt down the vegetables before ladling it over some basmati rice. I often speak of our low-carb household, but for curries and stews, I can't just eat them on their own -- sometimes I need my rice, dammit. Don't get between an Asian girl and a bowl of rice. You won't win, so just forget it, Atkins.

Something else to note, if you have a local farmer's market, now is the perfect time to search out some really nice vegetables. We're seeing a lot of unique squash and those eggplants we found were so adorable, I almost didn't want to cook them. I say almost because while I gave them a pause for admiration of their cuteness, I still hacked them up and threw them into a searing hot wok. In the rock-paper-scissors politics of food, cuteness is beat by hunger. Tummy satisfaction agrees with this choice. *burp*

Cute vegetables preserved for posterity before being om nommed - photos by Wasabi Prime