Coraggio

Last weekend I saw Eat Pray Love, and I totally dug it. I read the book and found it a bit self-indulgent, and I decided I would probably not see the film for this reason. Then I saw the trailer, and that golden Balinese light absolutely captivated me. Feel free to disagree with me, but if nothing else I can now look at Javier Bardem without the intense urge to run in the opposite direction. He is just magnificent in this movie?and I?m not just talking about his looks. He is a fine actor and, happily, he sports his real hair here and doesn?t call a single person ?Friend-o.?

Liz Gilbert was brave, I think, to up and leave for parts unknown where she couldn?t speak the language. Not to mention that she was nursing a broken heart. In the Pray section of the film, she travels to India, and there is one scene where she is eating a communal meal. I am just learning to cook Indian food and I kept thinking, Please show more food! I must know if a dal is really soupy or if that?s just something the cookbook tells me so I don?t feel like a failure.

In cooking, like life, one must be brave and plunge into things that are scary. And potentially gross. One of the grossest things I?ve ever encountered in the kitchen is cutting up raw chicken. I don?t think there?s anything more disgusting, and I absolutely detest this task. Several years ago I started making butter chicken, and cubing raw, boneless chicken breast is a precursor to making this dish. Dan and Max really dig it, and I would probably like it too?if I didn?t have to prepare it.

I have tried substituting chickpeas for the chicken, but that didn?t really work too well. Full disclosure: Unless we?re talking hummus or falafel, I?m not really a chickpea fan. I figured roasted eggplant would be meaty enough to replace the chicken, and it turns out I was right.

The sauce here is one I adapted from the butter chicken recipe in the February 2007 issue of Sunset magazine. Sunset does not have this recipe on its site, but if you are so inclined, you may sauté 2 pounds of cubed, boneless, skinless chicken breasts in 2 tablespoons of butter and drown it in the sauce below.

I?m going to take a little time off from blogging to recharge my culinary batteries. For my birthday last week I got several excellent books, Julie Sahni?s Classic Indian Vegetarian and Grain Cooking among them. I plan to travel to India vicariously through its pages and my saucepan. Hey, maybe I?ll write a blog about cooking my way through Julie?s entire book. Just kidding.

So, in my absence: Cook with boundless courage, and eat whatever you make?even if it looks weird. Ciao for now.

Indian Eggplant
Serves 4

If you can come up with a better title for this recipe, and I use it, I will send you five bucks. I really suck at writing titles. You can spice this up by adding a seeded and chopped jalapeño to the pan when you?re sautéing the vegetables. This recipe can be easily veganized by nixing the dairy completely or substituting a nondairy butter such as Earth Balance and your favorite nondairy milk. If you use nondairy milk, make sure it?s not sweetened. You can also sub a heaping teaspoon of ground ginger for the fresh if you want. If you roll that way, add it when you add the other dry spices.

1 large eggplant, about 1½ pounds
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 medium shallot (or onion), chopped
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
Dash cayenne
2 cups vegetable broth
6 ounces tomato paste
? cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon butter
6 cups cooked basmati rice, or whichever rice you like best
Fresh cilantro for garnish
Juice of half a lime

1. Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Remove the stem and cut the eggplant into a one-inch dice. Place on baking sheet in one layer and drizzle with olive oil. With clean hands, combine the olive oil and eggplant. Do this pretty quickly, because the eggplant will absorb the olive oil like a sponge. Sprinkle eggplant with salt and pepper. Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

3. While eggplant is roasting, heat oil in saucepan. Stir in shallot, carrot and ginger and sauté until soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the spices until well combined.

4. Scrape contents of the pan into a blender and add vegetable broth and tomato paste. Blend until smooth. Pour contents of blender back into pan and stir in half-and-half and salt and pepper. Taste it and add more salt and pepper if needed. Simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Keep an eye on this suckah. It will splatter all over your stove top in no time flat.

5. Add roasted eggplant to saucepan and combine with sauce. As soon as sauce begins bubbling, turn off heat and add the butter and let it melt. Stir gently. Squeeze in lime juice and stir gently again.

6. Divide cooked rice evenly among 4 bowls. Ladle eggplant and sauce over rice. Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve.