Aubergine Curry with Chilli and Tomato inspired by a Rick Stein recipe

After some more digging in the garden (I found yet more bamboo underneath the lawn!) I cooked aubergine curry today. I found a recipe in Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey book, but rather than using shrimp paste and lime leaves and kecap manis (what on earth is that anyway?!) I added some Rendang Thai curry paste. Much easier and it involved less hunting around in lots of shops. I don't often cook things out of this book as most of them require so many unusual ingredients, and even though I have quite a collection now of spices and herbs I never seem to have the right ones for these recipes.


We ate it with some rice and popadoms, and some rather lovely Patak's Brinjal Pickle which a friend introduced us to a few years ago and we always have in the fridge.