Too Cute

At the Redwood City farmers market last weekend I came across a bin full of tiny little purple-black eggplants, the variety that must have given the vegetable its name. I had no plans for cooking eggplant, but they were so adorable I couldn’t resist buying a bagful.

They sat around looking cute until the hot weather threatened to deflate them and I was forced to act. I found a promising recipe in Madhur Jaffrey’s World Vegetarian cookbook, a veritable encyclopedia of vegetable and bean recipes. The recipe was pickled eggplant in Sri Lankan style, and it specifically called for baby eggplant.

I was forced to change a few ingredients, as my local Asian supermarket was bizarrely bereft of lemongrass and I couldn’t bear to buy holy basil when I have five Italian basil plants going to seed in my backyard.

With these alterations it still made a fine accompaniment to a lunch of curried lentil stew. The cinnamon, according to my Sri Lankan brother-in-law, is an essential ingredient of Sri Lankan curries.

Pickled Eggplant in Sri Lankan Style

1 pound baby eggplants

salt

pepper

turmeric

oil for frying

1 cinnamon stick

small handful of basil leaves

half an onion, chopped fine

2 jalapeños, sliced

1 tablespoon ground brown mustard seeds

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons sugar  

2 garlic cloves, peeled and pressed

2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh ginger

2 tablespoons vinegar

Slice the baby eggplants cross-wise and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and turmeric. Let them sit for half an hour, then pat them dry. Chop each slice into quarters.

Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large frying pan and sauté the eggplant until it’s reddish-brown. Remove from the pan and drain.

Add more oil if needed; sauté the cinnamon stick for a minute, then add onion, jalapeños, and basil leaves. Fry until the onion is translucent. Let cool.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and add the eggplant and onion mix. Let it sit overnight in the refrigerator. Serve cold or at room temperature.