I started with a recipe from The Indonesian Kitchen by
Copeland Marks and Mintari Soeharjo (baked eggplant in hot
sauce) but altered it quite a bit. It was delicious over
basmati rice hot, but reheated the next day I couldn't
believe how good it was, and, as far as eggplant dishes go,
not bathed in oil.
two big eggplants (about 1.25 lb each) cut lenghtwise in
half, then quarters then eighths. Brush with oil (I used
peanut) and bake at 400 F until starting to brown and good
and soft. (Bake peel side down and the wedges won't stick.)
Meanwhile, in a food chopper, puree 8 cloves garlic, half an
onion, two large seeded or unseeded jalapenos (seeds make it
hotter), two teas salt (less if you use salted tomatoes) 4
teas sugar (scant). Fry this mix in a little oil in a big
non-stick fry pan. When the onion loses its "raw" taste, add
the juice of a large can plum tomatoes and puree about half
the toms in the food chopper (I used a Braun stick to
perfect effect). Pour that into the fry pan, stir well,
simmer for a bit. When the eggplants are done, snip them
into big-bite chunks with a kitchen shears, and add to the
fry pan along with the rest of the plum tomatoes
(quartered). Simmer until eggplant is nice and moist.
Consider a bit of pepper and salt to taste. I think fresh
coriander would be lovely as a garnish. blacksalt