Aromatic Spiced Chicken and Eggplant

, from Issue #95. February, 2021
Photography by Josh Griggs.
Aromatic Spiced Chicken and Eggplant

A basket of warm naan breads or roti is a no-brainer of an accompaniment to mop up all these flavoursome, spice-infused juices.

Serves: 4

INGREDIENTS

6 boneless, skin-off chicken thighs
1 small eggplant, cut into 3cm chunks
4 medium ripe tomatoes, halved
1 small lemon, quartered
4 stems curry leaves

Base
½ cup coconut cream
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon grated
fresh ginger
1 teaspoon each yellow mustard seeds, sea salt, caster sugar, ground cumin and ground garam masala
½ teaspoon each ground turmeric and sweet paprika
¼-½ teaspoon chilli flakes
1 teaspoon sea salt
leaves from 2 stems curry leaves
curry leaves

METHOD

Equipment: 26cm ovenproof sauté pan.

Preheat the oven to 180°C fan bake.

Combine all the base ingredients together in a large bowl. Add the chicken and eggplant and toss to coat.

Tip into the sauté pan and fold the thighs to make plump parcels. Nestle in the tomatoes and lemon quarters and place the sprigs of curry leaves on top.

Bake for 35 minutes, basting halfway through cooking, or until the chicken is fully cooked. Squeeze over the juice from lemon quarters just before serving.