Eggplants shine like the superstars they are in this really simple dish. Great for those new to curries, this foolproof recipe couldn’t be easier—it’s just one pot on the stove and ready in under 45 minutes. Win! Make a big pot on a Sunday night and you’ve easily got lunch or dinner for five days! Serve it with red beet kimchi and avocado. Throw it onto a wrap for a curry burrito. Or enjoy with steamed veggies and a favorite chutney. There are so many ways to enjoy this fantastic, yet light, dish. There are more vegan eggplant dishes we'd like for you to give a try!
Recipe adapted from Carolyn’s Pantry.
By Carolyn Yachanin ,
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- ½ red onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 1 cup white button mushrooms, chopped
- 3 tomatoes, roughly chopped
- 3 teaspoons turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ginger
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 1½ cups dried red lentils
- 1 (15-ounce) can light coconut milk
- 2⅔ cups vegetable broth
- 2 cups chopped kale leaves
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups cooked quinoa or brown rice
Optional toppings
- A handful of chopped cilantro
- Avocado
- Beet kimchi or red cabbage kraut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Cut the eggplant in thirds lengthwise, place on the prepared baking sheet, and bake for about 15 minutes while you prep the other ingredients.
- When there’s about 5 minutes left on the timer for the eggplant, heat a large pot over medium low to medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and carrots and sauté for 2 to 5 minutes, or until the onions start to turn brown and translucent. Add water 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time as needed, to keep the vegetables from sticking to the pan.
- Remove the eggplant from the oven, let it cool a bit since it’ll be pretty hot, and roughly it chop into large pieces.
- Add the chopped eggplant, mushrooms, tomatoes, turmeric, ginger, and red pepper flakes to the pot and sauté for about 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms get nice and soft.
- Next, add the lentils, coconut milk, and vegetable broth and stir. Bring the pot to a boil, then reduce heat, cover with a lid, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
- Add the kale, stir, and cook, uncovered, for an additional 5 minutes. Taste and add salt if you think it needs it.
- Top with optional toppings and serve with quinoa or brown rice!
Nutritional Information:
Per serving (¼ of recipe), 343 calories, 52 g carbohydrates, 15 g protein, 10 g total fat, 7 g saturated fat, 403 mg sodium, 13 g fiber, 10 g sugar
Note: Nutritional information is provided as an estimate only.
This recipe is genius!!!
All the super foods well balanced to deliciousness. Easy too.
Only alteration I made was swap 1 of the tspoons of turmeric for curry powder plus I don’t have coriander.
A lot of thought has gone into this recipe thank you from my taste buds and tummy
Very good. Seems like it is more than 4 servings. More like 6. I’m not complaining 🙂
Left out onions & lentils (IBS) and therefore no broth needed. Also used 2 t turmeric instead of 3. Used 1/2 tin coconut milk, 1/2 tin chopped tomatoes, handful of frozen spinach. Broiled thick eggplant slices, both sides instead of the oven bake. Came together quickly and leaving covered for 30 min before serving over rice helped the flavors develop. Another delicious base recipe.
I love this dish! Always a hit in my house!
This was very yummy! I didn’t have any beet kimchi or red cabbage kraut so I made my own substitute that was super simple and delicious: thinly sliced red cabbage, salt and lemon juice that I let stand at room temp for several hours before serving.
Very interesting flavor. Taste even better after a couple of days.
No curry powder???
Anytime turmeric is an ingredient shouldn’t you also add a little fresh ground black pepper to unleash the full nutritional benefits of the turmeric? Tom
This was awesome! Wouldn’t change one thing, except maybe a little more eggplant Husband loooved it!
No one ever answered it you keep the skin on the eggplant
I always keep skin on, especially using Chinese eggplant. Yum!
Really, really like this dish. Substituted a cup of frozen peas and carrots for the 3 carrots (lurked too long in the freezer) and added a dash of habanero for the red pepper. Sooo good.
It’s called Easy Turmeric Eggplant Curry. I find no curry listed in the recipe. How much curry??
Curry is a blanket term for anything with Indian spices.
Curry is a blanket term for “sauce”. There is Indian curry, Japanese curry, Thai curry … curry powder is typically a blend of spices specific to whichever curry flavor you are trying to accomplish, I.e. garam masala. I hope this helped.
Do you leave skin on the eggplant???
what can you use in place of coconut milk?
Use savoury cashew cream. Mrs Google has lots of recipes! It makes the curry nice n creamy!!
You can use almond milk or oat milk and add coconut extract as well.
Love this recipe, absolutely delicious.
Do you leave the skin on the eggplant?
Not a fan of eggplant, but I had a couple so made this and wow!!
Even better the next day for leftovers.
Best dish I’ve ever made, EVER!!! I did add about 2 T of curry powder.
Eventhough I don’t have a lot of cooking experience and I’m still confused what is meant by sauté, I’m still impressed by the result. The only thing that I would change is to put 1 tablespoon of turmeric instead of 3. Nevertheless have a great day:)
The recipe says says 3 teaspoons, not tablespoons! 🙂
This was delicious, though I’m not sure why it’s called “Easy”, as it was still quite a bit of work. Yes, add some ground black pepper to make the turmeric more potent.
Sauté is similar to stirfry!
3 teaspoons is equal to 1 tablespoon, so it’s still the same recipe
Delicious and really nutritional
I loved this. I omitted the red flakes because my friend doesn’t do well with hot things. It was so lovely. I also put in spinach instead of kale because that’s what was available, and yes good with the spinach.
Which is a Tablespoon I think
This was the first Forks Over Knives recipe that I tried. Wow! My husband and I loved it. He wants to know if there are other FOK recipes. We loved the no oil aspect – it lightened the dish!
So easy and absolutely delicious, we have this at least once a week.