Eggplant Pickle

When we lived in Australia, our flat was across the road from Paddy's market in Flemington. For family events we would often go there bright and early and pick up fish and vegies at remarkebly cheap prices.
When I went to make this eggplant pickle, I'd often grab a box of eggplants from the markets so that I could make up a huge batch, because trust me, once you start it's hard to stop with this one!

WARNING: This recipes takes more that 12 hours to complete

Don't you hate it when you get half-way through a recipe to see "step 5: leave for 72 hours".....gah....happens to me all the time because I don't read the recipes properly of course.

This recipe is based on one by the famous Peter Kuruvita. The first time I made it, I was low on some of the spices so ended up toning them down. I loved the flavours so much that I've kept my ratios but stuck to Peter's awesome ingredients.

Ingredients

800g of eggplant, cut into cubes
2 small red onions chopped into quarters
4 green chillis
4 tablespoons of turmeric
oil for frying
2 sprigs curry leaves
6 cloves of garlic crushed
30g of ginger crushed
90g of cumin (ground)
60g of sugar
1/2 cup of white vinegar
Salt to taste

Preparation

In a large bowl combine the chopped up eggplant with 2 tablespoons of turmeric and mix well.

I use a large wok for frying but a deep fryer would be even better. Heat the oil and fry the eggplant in small batches until deep golden brown!

Next, fry the onions and green chillis until golden and drain all the fried good well. If I'm being good I will lay them on 3-4 layers of paper towel and leave overnight, usually replacing the towel before I go to bed. I think it helps make the pickle less oily. If you can't be bothered, never mind, but I do recommend at least leaving it a small while.

Add a couple of tablespoons of oil to a heavy-based saucepan. When hot add the curry leaves, ginger and garlic. When lovely and fragrant add the cumin and fry till the spicy smell fills your house.


Next add the remaining turmeric, sugar and vinegar.

Let the mixture come to the boil and simmer for a few moments until the sugar is dissolved.

Finally add the fried eggplant, onions and chilli and give the whole thing a good stir.

I store this in sterilised jars and I'm happy to keep it in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

While you can eat this and soon as it's cool enough to touch, I would wait a day or two to let the flavours really develop.