So… pork katsu curry is delicious, but not the healthiest thing in the world, so instead I thought I’d try this aubergine version.

I intended to do this last week. I looked at the recipe, it called for two aubergines for four people, so I just ordered one. But when it came… it was rather tiny, like the size of an avocado. So… that wasn’t going to work.

So this week I ordered another aubergine. And they didn’t have it in stock and so I got delivered mini aubergines, which are the size of chillies. No use for this recipe…

Then I messed up my pork donburi by forgetting the pork.

So: aubergine and pork katsu curry it is!

It starts with making a sauce, which will get blended after being cooked, which is great because it means I didn’t have to cut everything up really small!

Once blended it can sit around until it gets reheated for serving. It’s one of those curries where you pour the sauce over the meat, which is a travesty with Indian curries, but it’s how katsu is meant to be, so that’s OK.

The pork and aubergines get the egg & seasoned breadcrumb treatment.

These go in the fridge after being prepped.

Also in in the fridge goes a pickled cucumber strips. The aubergine recipe said serve with cucumber strips… but it didn’t pickle them! Silly recipe. So pickle with mirin, white wine vinegar, salt & seaweed mix, plus freshly ground black pepper.

Finally in the prep a mix of spring onion greens, coriander & nori (dried seaweed) is prepped for a garnish.

With everything prepped, actually cooking is simple. Get the rice cooking while the oven heats up. Rice comes off the heat to stand when the pork & aubergine go in the oven, and the sauce gets heated up. Then it’s just plating up!

Unfortunately the aubergines weren’t fully cooked, and apparently the skin can be poisonous if not fully cooked, so we had to cut that off, and the middle was a little crunchy.

The rest was great though – pork was nicely cooked with crunchy breadcrumbs, curry was nice and spicy (very spicy…), and the cucumber pickle was a great side!