I have a good friend, Narasimhan, who used to live in Adelaide. He is from Tamil Nadu but resides in Bangalore. When he was in Australia, he would regularly arrive at my place, bearing this curry and a bunch of roses, asking only that I cook some rice and maybe (under his guidance) some payasam. This curry is so easy and so good, or maybe it is the smell of the roses that biases my tastebuds.

Sauce-free Indian curries like these are really just slightly-more-elaborate vegetable sautés—toast spices in ghee, coconut oil or Indian sesame oil, add in your vegetables, and finish with salt and sometimes a touch of sugar to season the simple, healthful spicy glaze that coats the vegetables.

You might like to try other Subzi recipes.Try Okra Subzi, Sweet Potato Subzi with Yoghurt, Sweet and Sour Potato Subzi, Sweet Potato Subzi, and Potato Subzi.

Are you looking for Sweet Potato recipes? Try Roasted Sweet Potato and Fresh Figs, Sweet Potato Subzi, Slighty Sweet and Sour Pumpkin Subzi, and Sweet Potato Vindaloo.

For Spinach dishes, try Spinach Thoran, Mung Dal with Cumin and Spinach, and Stir Fried Spinach with Coconut.

For Eggplant dishes, try Eggplant in Tamarind Leaf Paste, Baingan ka Salan, Brinjal Chidambaram Kosthu, Spicy Eggplant Rice, and Grated Coconut Masala Kuzhambu.

Browse all of our Sweet Potato recipes, Spinach recipes and Eggplant recipes. And explore our Indian recipes. Or take some time to check out our Mid Autumn recipe collection.

If you would like to make your own Sambar Powder visit this recent post which will explain the process.

Narasimhan’s Sweet Potato, Eggplant and Spinach Madras Subzi

Cuisine: Indian

Prep time: 15 mins to peel and chop vegetables and to blanch the spinach

Cooking time: 15 – 20 mins

Sitting time: 15 – 20 mins to develop flavours

Serves: 4 – 6 people, depending how you use it

I often make half quantities as the full recipe makes quite an amount.

ingredients

1 large sweet potato, about 650 – 700 g, peeled and cut into 2 – 2.5cm cubes

1 large eggplant, about 450 g, cut into 2 – 2.5cm cubes

500 g of spinach, blanched, dried and chopped

1 Tblspn cumin seeds

2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 Tblspn Madras Sambar Powder (buy or make your own) or a good curry powder (adjust am0unt to heat of the curry powder)

1 tspn black mustard seeds

1 tspn sea salt

0.25 tspn turmeric powder

50 ml ghee

2 Tblspn chopped green coriander leaves

method

Heat ghee in a heavy-based saucepan on low heat. When hot, add the mustard seeds and allow to pop. Add the garlic and cumin seeds, and stir fry until garlic turns a golden brown colour.

Add the sweet potato pieces and cook for 5 minutes until the sweet potato is half cooked. Stir occasionally and add a splash of water if needed.

Mix in the eggplant cubes, spinach, sea salt, sambar powder and turmeric powder. Cook on low-medium heat until the sweet potato and eggplant is tender. Add a splash of water if needed.

Remove dish from stove and stir in the coriander leaves.

Allow the dish to sit for 15 minutes to develop the flavours, and serve with rice and/or naan.

recipe notes

I have made this without the sambar powder, and the gentleness of the resulting curry is wonderful.

You might also like our Sweet Potato recipes here and here. Or you might like to browse Eggplant recipes here and here.

This is cross posted with our Sister site, Heat in The Kitchen. It appears there as part of the Retro Recipes series – our vegetarian recipes from our first blog from 1995 – 2005.

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