Indian food has a north-south divide. While the famed north is (in general) slow, heavy and often a shade of red or brown, the south is faster, fresher and more brightly flavoured. For this reason, it’s long been a mystery to me why the north has tended to dominate our high streets. This week’s aubergine pollichattu, a Keralan dish traditionally cooked in a banana leaf, is a wonderful introduction to the food of south India. Citrus- and smoke-flavoured curry leaves, tamarind and coconut all vie for attention; the result is vibrant and delicious.

Aubergine pollichattu

Wrapping the aubergine in baking paper part bakes and part steams the aubergine, making it wonderfully creamy and soft. This means a good crunchy salad, like a kachumbar, would sit nicely alongside. You’ll need four sheets of baking paper cut into roughly 40cm x 40cm squares and kitchen string or regular string soaked in cold water.

Prep 30 min

Cook 1 hr 15 min

Serves 4

3 tbsp coconut oil

20 fresh curry leaves

5 large shallots (roughly 400g), peeled and finely sliced

5 garlic cloves, peeled and finely sliced

3cm ginger, peeled and grated

2 green finger chillies, deseeded and finely chopped

400g ripe vine tomatoes, roughly chopped

3 tsp tamarind paste

100ml coconut cream

½ tsp turmeric

1 tsp salt

3 aubergines (about 900g)

Heat the oven to 200C/390F/gas 6. Heat the coconut oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and, when hot, add the curry leaves and leave them to crackle and crisp for a minute.

Add the shallots and cook for eight minutes, until they are translucent and just starting to brown, then add the garlic, ginger and chopped chillies. Cook for three or four minutes, until the scent of garlic and ginger has filled the kitchen, then add the tomatoes. Cook for four minutes, until the tomatoes have broken down, then add the tamarind paste, coconut cream, turmeric and salt. Simmer together for 15 minutes, until you have a deep ochre sauce and it is thick enough to spread (ie, not too runny), then take off the heat and leave to one side to cool.

Remove the stems from the aubergines and cut into 1cm slices, lengthways, to get 16 slices if you can, then separate the aubergine slices into four portions. Roughly divide the sauce in the pan into four equal portions, too.

Put a slice of aubergine in the middle of each piece of baking paper, add a spoonful of sauce, and add another slice. Repeat until you have a four-slice sandwich. Bring the baking paper up at either side of the aubergine and fold it over so the aubergine is encased. Do the same with the ends, so that you have a neat parcel. Tie with string so that it looks like a present. Put this parcel on a baking sheet and repeat with the rest of your aubergine portions until you have four identical parcels. Put these in the oven for 40 minutes.

Serve the parcels with rice, dal or a chopped salad and some flatbread.