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Vegan Roasted Eggplant and Mushroom Curry – an Indian curry recipe that is gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, and nutritious! Make it as a meal prep recipe or for stunning your guests!
Eggplant season, everybody get pumped!
Those deeply purple-d bulbous bodies of meaty spongy versatility, glorious day, what a vegetable.
I know, I know.
Some of us are Eggplant People and some of us Are Not.
To those of you who Are Not, I implore you to try your eggplant bathed in coconut milk and spices. Just once.
Just to say you’ve been there, done that, et that eggplant. It really is just the darndest thing, the curry o’ eggplant.
Eggplants are one of those faux meat veggies that serve well as a filling meatless meal.
They’re hearty, they absorb flavor like a chameleon changes color, they can be made into just about anything.
One of my first experiences with eggplant was an eggplant curry I tried from a local Indian restaurant.
It was so flavorful, so mooshy, so spicy, my tongue was on overload in joy.
I showed you an eggplant curry 17,000 years ago, and this is basically a deconstructed version of that with mushrooms added in.
Eggplant season runs from July through October, which means we have many-a-month to enjoy eggplant curry, eggplant sandos, eggplant burgers, you name it. Time is on our side, yes it is.
Eggplants absorb oil like whoa, so I coat them with a generous portion when I roast them lest they stick to the baking sheets.
While the eggplant and mushrooms were roasting in the oven, I made a yellow coconut curry sauce on the stove top.
After simmering the sauce for a hot minute, I added the roasted veggies and served it all up on rice. BOOM meatless Monday.
Be sure to save a smidge of the curry for your work lunch, because a.) nothing rustles your coworkers’s tail feathers like the scent of curry wafting from the breakroom, and b.) curry is always better the next day.
It’s a real rumpus, that curry.
Get that Monday!
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If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!
Roasted Eggplant and Mushroom Curry
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant, diced into 2- cubes
- 8 ounces baby bella mushrooms, halved
- 1 14- ounce can full-fat coconut milk, divided
- ½ yellow onion, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 dried red chili, seeds removed and crushed
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground corriander
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
- 1 14- ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
For Serving:
- Cooked Brown or White Rice
- Fresh cilantro
- Greek yogurt, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Spread the eggplant and mushrooms on two baking sheets. Drizzle generously with olive oil and sea salt. Place in the oven and roast for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, flip the veggies, and roast an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
- While the vegetables are roasting, make the curry sauce. To do so, add about 1/3 cup of the coconut milk to a saucepan, along with the onion, ginger, and garlic. Saute, stirring occasionally, until the onion is soft and translucent, and the coconut milk has been absorbed, about 10 minutes. Add the spices and saute an additional 3 minutes. Add the remaining coconut milk and diced tomatoes. Bring to a full boil, then reduce the heat. Allow the sauce to continue cooking at a controlled boil, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 15 minutes.
- Add the roasted vegetables to the saucepan, stir well to coat, then serve curry with cooked brown rice, quinoa, or cauliflower rice.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate and comment below!
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YUM! This curry was awesome! And so easy to throw together too! I’m currently traveling and making this dish in my hostel kitchen in Valparaiso, Chile was a cinch! I ended up cooking the mushrooms & eggplant in the pot with a bit more liquid because it was easier than roasting (the oven here is less than co-operative). I loved the addition of coconut milk! Definitely a keeper recipe!
Oh my gosh, I can’t believe you made it while traveling! It’s so cool to know the recipe was prepared in Valparaiso – what an honor! Also, I’ve been to Valpo and absolutely love that place! Have a blast in Chile – it truly is a magnificent country. And thanks so much for your feedback!
This IS superb! I’m eating it right now, at work, the day after 🙂 All your recipes are superb Julia, please publish another book with everything in!
Julia,
Thanks for this recipe! I’ve added it to the Farm Fresh Feasts Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me who love to eat from the farm share.
I appreciate your help in making this index better!
This looks so warming and flavorful! Pinning 🙂
Oooh, I am a BIG eggplant fan! I love all the varieties they are starting to have at the Farmer’s Markets! This curry looks amazing!
Yessssss i LOVE eggplant!! I’ve been meaning to make a curry dish sometime soon and this looks FAB.
I am an eggplant person and I’m a curry person, too! Oh how I love a good vegetarian curry recipe. Oh and you know what else I like? Eggplant Bharta. I had it for the first time a few weeks ago and I’m been dreaming about it ever since. Hooray for eggplant!
BTW, Your eggplant curry looks incredible, Julia!
I have been getting OODLES of eggplant in my CSA and loving every second of it! This curry is destined to happen in my kitchen soon. I’m always craving those spices.
I’m in the middle of making the curry dish and you don’t mention how much curry to use! A’m I going senseless ? Do the spices combine to make the curry or did you leave it out?
HELP! I’m dying here and need information!
Sorry for the confusion! Yes, the spices together form the curry. Store-bought curry powder is a blend of cumin, corriander, turmeric, cayenne, paprika, and sometimes cardamom. I hope the curry ended up working out for you!
Meaty spongey versatility…AMEN SEESTER. I am one of those peeps that actually thoroughly enjoys this odd vegetable. More for meeee!!
Oh yeaaahhhh. I love eggplant! I just roasted some yesterday, in fact. It’s so good and imagining it soaked in all of that curry deliciousness sounds amaaaaazing. I’m definitely going to bookmark this one to try! I only wish it wouldn’t have taken you 17,000 years to bring it back for us. 😉
I would venture to say that people who “Are Not” about eggplant have just not had it prepared the right way. Like this curry, for example… how could you resist? 😉 My boyfriend was in the “are not” camp until I made diced eggplant slathered in pesto, then fried them to a crisp. He changed his mind after that! 🙂
OOF! Diced eggplant with pesto sounds amazing! I’ll have to give it a try!!
OK, Since I think I don’t like eggplant (like Josh above) but since you’ve converted me to like coconut milk and curry, I’ma gonna try it oncea, just oncea. Anda if youa wronga, i’mma gonna hatea you forever, and that’sa really longa longa time!
I’lla bea back witha report soona.
Josh was definitely not on board with eggplant until he tried it at a local Chinese restaurant where it was all mushy and bathed in extra sauce, which switched him right over to being BFFs with it. This recipe sounds like a hit! Who doesn’t love everything more when coconut milk is involved?
LOL @ “a real rumpus”. Eggplant curry is my kind of rumpus for sure. Great recipe!!
Ummmmmmmmm I LOOOOOOOOVE EGGPLANT and cannot wait to try this! Looks amazing. Thanks for sharing!