Bhurtha anyone?

My niece came over to help me hang a bunch of clothes for upcoming fall/winter consignments. Her and I have the same taste when it comes to food, so I decided to use the opportunity of non-picky eaters at my table and stuff fresh from the garden to fix an Indian dish; this is Indian as in "India".

We enjoyed the meal so much I thought I would share the recipe. Surin is great to go to, but why not try a little something fun at home?!

ingredients:
1 small eggplant, sliced in slivers (I used ghostbuster eggplant, a white variety)
1/4 c. sliced onion
1 tomato, seeded and sliced into slivers
1 small pepper (I didn't use this ingredient)
curry powder
cumin seasoning
ground coriander seasoning
salt and pepper
nutmeg
1 cinnamon stick
cloves (whole or ground)
1 small carrot, julienned
small bunch of green beans or peas
vegetable or olive oil
half a container of plain or vanilla yogurt
1/2-3/4c. water

In a large skillet, heat oil and add nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon stick. Continue heating on medium setting, until you can place the butt end of a wooden spoon in the oil and the oil bubbles around the handle (this is a tip chefs use). Remove the cinnamon stick and add onion, carrots, and optional hot pepper. Continue cooking until onions are tender. Reduce heat. Next add cumin, coriander, and curry. After you blend in the spices add the yogurt and water (don't add the water first). Then place beans and tomatoes in mixture and cook for about 15 minutes. Add eggplant and salt and pepper. Increase the heat back to medium and continue cooking until eggplant is translucent. The sauce will darken and the vegetables will become mushy, except for the beans. Once the eggplant is translucent, remove pan from heat and let it rest for several minutes before serving, since this will allow sauce to thicken.

Serve over rice. There are other traditional things to serve with this, but we didn't have any of them. We also cooked some beef strips in a separate pan with olive oil, curry powder, salt, and a sprinkling of sugar.

This dish will serve about four people and takes approx. 1 hour from prep to serve.