I am always looking for innovative and unique ways to use my vegetables! This week’s CSA share from Taproot Farm included a beautiful large eggplant and a bunch of tomatoes! Recently I have been craving Indian cuisine and I thought of one of my favorite dishes when I go out to eat – Chicken Makhani! So then I got the inspiration to make my own version of makhani, using organic garlic, parsley, onion, tomatoes and eggplant all from Taproot Farm! 🙂 Eggplant can often be used as a meat substitute due to it’s texture and it was a perfect addition to this dish. The fresh tomatoes also made the makhani sauce super fresh and incredible in taste. I did not add a ton of spices to this dish in the interest of keeping the dominating tomato and other vegetable flavors, but please feel free to add more spices as you see fit! 🙂 The makhani was served with both basmati rice and pita bread with garlic (typically I would just buy garlic naan from our local store, but since they were out this week pita bread made for a great substitute!). This dish was a huge hit among everyone who tried it and I am already looking forward to making it again. I hope you enjoy it – happy cooking and eating! 🙂
Makes 4 Servings
Post by © Alysha Melnyk 2018
Kitchen Tools:
Oven, Preheated to 400°F
Knife
Peeler
Dry Measuring Cups
Liquid Measuring Cups
Measuring Spoons
Sheet Pan
Parchment Paper
Large Sauce Pan with Lid
Food Processor
Ingredients:
For the Roasted Vegetables:
6 Heaping Cups of Eggplant, Peeled and Diced (I used 1 large eggplant to get this amount)
1 Cup Sweet Onion, Diced
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Salt (*To Taste)
Pepper (*To Taste)
For the Tomato Makhani Sauce:
2 Cups Tomato, Diced
1/4 Cup Raw Cashews
2 Cloves Fresh Garlic, Minced
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Water
4 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter, Melted
3 Tablespoons Garlic Tomato Paste
2 Tablespoons Tomato Ketchup
1/4 Cup Heavy Cream
1 Teaspoon Sugar
3 Teaspoons Tandoori Masala Seasoning (*You can find this at the grocery store and also can google recipes to know what spices to mix if you already have them/can’t find the seasoning)
1 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
Salt (*To Taste)
Pepper (*To Taste)
For Serving:
Rice of Choice (*Cooked to Package Instructions)
Naan or Pita Bread
Fresh Parsley
Instructions:
- First, preheat the oven to 400°F and line sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Next, peel and dice eggplant and onion and place pieces on sheet pan.
- Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper as preferred, tossing to coat everything.
- Roast in oven for 30 minutes (tossing once at the 15 minute mark).
- While vegetables are roasting, you can prepare your makhani sauce.
- First, dice tomato. Add diced tomato to food processor and blend until smooth.
- Next, add cashews in food processor (blend), then garlic (blend), then olive oil (blend), and then water (blend) until everything is smooth and unified.
- Pour the sauce into your large sauce pan and stir in melted butter, garlic tomato paste, tomato ketchup, heavy cream, sugar, tandoori masala seasoning and ground cumin, mixing to combine.
- Once the onion and eggplant are done roasting, transfer them into the sauce pan and mix to coat everything.
- Cover with lid and heat on medium/medium high to thicken sauce and warm everything, stirring occasionally (add salt and pepper as desired). This process for me took around 15-20 minutes, but it may vary oven to oven. Once everything is warmed through and thickened, turn off heat and leave covered until eating.
- While makhani sauce is warming, cook rice according to package instructions.
- Additionally, if you are warming your serving bread, do that as well.
- For my bread I cut three pita rounds into quarters, brushed both sides with olive oil and placed on sheet pan. I minced one clove of garlic and placed on top amongst all the pieces and broiled on high until brown.
- To serve, add rice to a plate and top with the warmed eggplant makhani. Place bread on the side and sprinkle everything with black pepper and fresh parsley.
- Enjoy! 🙂
***Store leftovers in refrigerator and can be easily reheated in either the microwave or oven.***
are those cherry tomatoes in the pic. they look so pretty. i grow them in my garden and love them for their sweetness. eggplant is also my fav. do check out my fav way of cooking eggplants from my garden
https://mencanmakehomes.com/2018/04/28/brinjal-eggplant-chops/
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They are! So delicious! 🙂 I will – thank you for sharing! Sounds tasty.
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Nice recipe
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Thank you! 🙂
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