Aubergines vegan green curry by Andrei Velichko
Cuisine: Thai
Author: Maria Kalenska


Ingredients
  • 2 medium aubergines
  • 200 g rice
  • 1 green bell pepper
  • 100 g green beans
  • 100 g oyster mushrooms / shitake / cup mushrooms
  • 400 ml coconut milk
  • ½ green chili
  • 1 onion, peeled
  • 3 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • 30 g fresh ginger, peeled
  • ⅓ bunch of coriander
  • juice of ½ lime
  • 50 g cashew
  • For curry paste:
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 green chilli
  • ½ red onion, peeled
  • 30 g fresh ginger, peeled
  • 2 cloves of garlic, peeled
  • zest and juice of 1 lime
  • ½ bunch coriander
  • 2-3 leaves of kaffir lime
  • 1 sprig of lemongrass
  • 2 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp salt
Cooking method
  1. Cook rice. Add rice into a small saucepan, pour cold water in a ratio of 1:2, add salt. Put on a high heat and bring the rice to boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover the saucepan with a lid and simmer rice until cooked. During the cooking process do not interfere. Remove rice from the heat and put aside.
  2. Cook the curry paste. If the spices are whole, then dry them in a frying pan over high heat. Cut off the upper green part and the root from lemongrass. Peel the top dry layer. Beat the lemongrass with the back side of the knife and roughly chop it. Cut onion and ginger into 4 parts. Put cumin and coriander seeds, chili pepper, lime zest and juice, onion, ginger, garlic, coriander leaves, kaffir lime leaves, lemongrass, oil, and salt to the blender bowl. Whizz to a smooth paste. Set aside.
  3. Cut the aubergines into 2-3 cm cubes. Put in a bowl, add salt, set aside for a few minutes. Finely chop chili, onion, garlic, ginger. Cut bell pepper into 2-3 cm cubes. Cut green beans into 2 cm slices. Cut each mushroom into 4 parts. Finely chop cashews. Finely chop the coriander and divide into 2 parts. Set aside the other half.
  4. Heat the oil in a frying pan over low heat. Add the garlic, chili, ginger and cook for 1 minute so the garlic doesn’t change colour. Add the onion and cook for a few minutes until softened. Increase the heat to medium, add the aubergines and fry for 5 minutes. Add bell pepper and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Add green beans, mushrooms, curry paste, pour coconut milk and mix. Cook no longer than 5 minutes, curry should retain its green colour. Finally, add lime juice, the first part of chopped coriander leaves, mix well and remove from heat. Put rice and curry on a plate, top with cashew and the second half of cilantro.
My tips and tricks
If you want to turn a vegan curry into a “carnivore” curry, use shrimp, chicken or any white fish instead of aubergine, or you can use them all at once. But if you are preparing a vegan version with aubergine, take advantage of Andrei Velichko's advice on how to get rid of the stiffness of an aubergine skin. To do this, take the fork with the longest sharp tines, and slightly sticking it into the top of the aubergine, slide the fork down to the end, as if you were "ploughing" it. Repeat until the whole aubergine is striped. And now you can cook it, and not be afraid that the hard skin will ruin the taste of the dish and your mood.

Maria Kalenska Gastronomy Blog | http://www.myodessacuisine.com/recipes/aubergines-vegan-green-curry-by-andrei-velichko/