slow cooker eggplant patiala (curry)

One of the best purchases we made when we had a baby was an item you won't find in the baby aisle: a slow cooker.  This little appliance was what saved dinner many an evening.  Besides when my mom would cook, the slow cooker was the reason we ate in those first couple of months after the baby was born, 'cause let's face it, neither of us had the energy or the wherewithal to stand and cook in the kitchen in those early days when just brushing my hair was a massive accomplishment.

As such, I'm dedicating an entire series on Tarts and Crafts to slow cooker meals: the Slow Cooker Series if you will.

Something important to note to, is that I'm only going to feature dishes that you can truly just throw into the slow cooker and forget it til it's done.  There are lots of slow cooker recipes I found that require a bunch of pre-cooking like frying or sautéing or roasting.  That didn't work for us because we really needed good food that would take little to no time to make. So that's what I'm sharing in the series.

The first recipe featured with be a vegetarian number that I just cooked up a couple of days ago.  This dish is usually done as a stir fry, but that obviously isn't the case with the slow cook-erized version.  You just toss it into the slow cooker and forget about it til it's ready pretty much.  So it's not going to be the same Eggplant Patiala as you'd get at an Indian restaurant but it's pretty delicious nonetheless.  This dish took me a grand total of 10 minutes to throw together.

Here's the recipe!

Slow Cooker Eggplant Patiala

adapted from Canadian Living

serves 8

Ingredients

1 can diced tomatoes

3 tbsp tomato paste

1 bay leaf

2 tsp granulated sugar

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp mustard seeds

2 tsp cumin seeds

2 tbsp fresh grated ginger

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 onion, julienned

1 tsp chili flakes

1/4 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

12 indian eggplants or 6-7 italian eggplants, cubed

fresh cilantro (to garnish)

Directions

In slow cooker, mix together the tomatoes, tomato paste, spices, onions, and garlic.  Add the eggplant on top.  Cover and cook on low for 5 hrs.  Uncover and combine the eggplant with the tomato mixture. Cover and cook for one more hour on low.

Serve with rice and garnish with fresh coriander.

Enjoy!