Louise's Halloween Beetroot and Aubergine Curry

God created sex. Priests created marriage - Voltaire

So it has been a while again. Much laughter and wine and a few tears since the last post. Laughter with friends and tears for their losses. I am not going to get into it but pull yourself towards yourself cause you don't know what tomorrow may bring, who will be in your life and who will be taken away. But if you are lucky enough to have someone to share your life with you, love them as if each day was your last, respect them and cherish each day you spend with them. End of.

This recipe should have been blogged about ages ago. It was a surprise party on Halloween for Frances who just completed an art installation with a marriage theme and had been away in Europe for 3 months. Louise, by a sheer stroke of genius came up with the theme 'corpse bride' for the evening. And so it began, in a swirl of veils and tule and fabulous blood made with Maizena, food colouring and water, smeared all over our pretty white dresses.

Before the main event which was a bit of a crazy Halloween house party where I was thrown around the dance floor by a rather lovely young man covered in glitter (WHO MAKES JEWELRY - LOVE HIM!!) , we had a dinner cooked by the fast, nifty and capable hands of Louise. I am not sure if she intended for the curry to look red but it certainly fitted the evening. I thought I worked efficiently, this was the fastest put together curry I have ever seen out of a professional kitchen. Now, as with all my recipes, I am going to amend this one cause it is my blog, (sorry Louise, you were however the inspiration). I can't tell you about the rest of the evening because that would be giving away secrets and to be honest, the wine went straight to my head, very, very fast. Must have been a full moon.

Beetroot and Aubergine curry (serves 6)

1 packet of beetroot (6 large beets peeled and chopped)
2 large chopped aubergines
2 chopped onions
2 cloves of garlic
1 chopped chili
2 heaped teaspoons of green curry paste
1 large chopped head of coriander
2 cups of chicken stock (1 cube per cup)
3 tablespoons of chutney
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
4 cardamon pods
olive oil for frying
salt and paper to taste

Method

Fry off your cardamon pods, coriander and mustards seeds once toasted set aside and crush with a pestle and mortar

In a pot, fry off chopped onion and garlic till brown

Add beetroot and stir in well

Add curry paste, chopped chili, chutney, cardamon, coriander and mustard seeds and stir

Add chopped aubergine and stir

Add chicken stock and stir

Add salt and pepper to taste

Simmer on a low heat with the lid on for 40 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes

Once soft, season to taste and serve with chopped coriander and basmati rice.