Curry With Aubergine, Mushrooms, Chickpeas And Spinach

Total Time: 1 hr Preparation Time: 30 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon cumin seed
• 5 cardamom pods, the seeds of
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• 1 cinnamon stick, 4-5 cm
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 -4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon gingerroot, minced
• 3 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon ground turmeric
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1/2-1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 14 ounces crushed tomatoes, tinned
• 1 cup water
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 lemon, zest of
• 1/2 lemon, juice of
• 1 tablespoon canola oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 aubergine, in very small cubes
• 500 g mushrooms, sliced
• 1 cup cooked chickpeas
• 250 g spinach, frozen
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, to taste

Recipe

• 1 dry roast the whole spices (coriander - mustard seeds) on a hot frying pan for a few minutes.
• 2 let the spices cool off and grind them with a pestle and mortar or in a spice mill.
• 3 heat the canola oil and fry the chopped onion together with the cinnamon stick until the onion is translucent.
• 4 add chopped garlic, ginger and bay leaves and fry them for a few minutes.
• 5 add the ground spices, turmeric, paprika, cayenne pepper, crushed tomatoes, water and salt and bring the sauce to a boil.
• 6 let the sauce simmer for at least 15 minutes.
• 7 add the lemon zest and lemon juice.
• 8 remove the cinnamon stick and the bay leaves.
• 9 blend the sauce with an immersion blender.
• 10 heat the 1 tbsp canola oil in another saucepan and roast the red onion and garlic for a few minutes.
• 11 add the aubergine and mushrooms and cook them for 5 minutes at medium heat while stiring frequently. the liquid from the mushrooms helps preventing the vegetables from sticking to the saucepan - in this way you can use less oil.
• 12 (if you prefer your aubergines very soft and mushy try slicing the aubergine lengthwise (1 cm slices) and spray/brush the slices with olive oil and give them a sprinkling of ground black pepper. then bake the aubergine slices in the oven for 20-30 minute at 360 degree f. when the aubergine slices are cold enough to handle cut them into cubes and add them to the curry).
• 13 add the sauce and let the curry simmer for 10 minutes.
• 14 add the chickpeas and let the curry simmer for 5 more minutes.
• 15 add the spinach and bring the curry back to boiling and simmer for 5 minutes.
• 16 serve the curry on a bed of basmati rice.