Tamarind, Tomatoes & Aubergine - using the accidental stockpile

I'm Ruth, and I'm accidentally stock-piled a LOT of tinned tomatoes due to not realising we had loads  hidden behind something else in a cupboard. This is perhaps just as well, although I worry slightly that I may never want to see tomatoes again at some point. On the plus side, I also have a range of spices and herbs in the house which is just as well as my local supermarket is stripped bare, unless you want to get up incredibly early and fight your way through (I don't). The high street greengrocer seems to be well-stocked, although the queues rival Christmas Eve, so I braved the shops in my lunch hour and returned with various basic bits and pieces aiming to try and use them with stuff I had in the cupboard already. Going to the local greengrocer and butcher to buy stuff, instead of Sainsbury's, does feel Very Middle Class but was definitely a "save my sanity" move.

I also wanted to make something that would require a bit of effort to take my mind off the rising tide of panic about, well, everything in the outside world at the moment. It turns out that working from home doesn't particularly suit me, I need other people around to take my mind off things! Even the trip out at lunchtime didn't really fix that, but it turns out that cooking did.

I made this particular dish for some friends between Christmas and New Year, and have had half a jar of tamarind in my fridge waiting for inspiration ever since. In the absence of inspiration, and on the slightly panicky "buy fresh vegetables whilst you can!" acquisition of aubergines, I decided to make it again. It's a reduced version of an original found in Sabrina Ghayour's Bazaar (I recommend all her books, Persiana is one of my favourites). It has also made me think of that particular group of friends and wonder when I'll see them all next, as we are mostly scattered across the country. On the plus side, it includes two vegetarians, one person who's lactose-intolerant and another who's allergic to butternut squash, so it's going be a damn sight easier just to cook for my immediate household for a bit.

Important note, about an three quarters of an hour before I started cooking this, I had a glass of wine. If you're going to do this, do not also drink a second glass while cooking. Whilst it's not a difficult dish to cook, it's not one where wine is helpful. Learn from my errors.

Finely chop onions into half moons. Or if you're me and not paying attention to the recipe, quarter moons. Chuck into the pan with some oil and leave to soften until just starting to brown. Peel the cloves of half a bulb of garlic, then throw them in as well, alongside half a teaspoon of cinnamon. Your kitchen will now smell of a combination of Christmas and frying onions, which is strangely pleasing.

Add a tin of tomatoes - assuming you have some in stock. Also add 1.5 tablespoons tamarind paste (or what's left in the jar if you're me) and 2 tablespoons honey, season and leave to simmer whilst you do the more complicated bit involving aubergines. The garlic looks a bit unappetising in the photo - don't worry, it won't be.

Cut 3 aubergines into wedges lengthways. Heat about a centimetre of vegetable oil into a frying pan and then fry the wedges in batches until golden. This is the bit where you regret the wine, because they're a bugger to turn to make sure they're cooking evenly even if you're stone cold sober, plus the oil spits. Annoying when it's your hand that gets the spatters, but causing of squeaks when it's your face. When the first batch is done, put it on top of some kitchen roll on a plate so that the excess oil is soaked off, repeat with the second/third etc until complete.

When they're all done, stir it through the tomato/tamarind mixture and leave on a low heat to warm through while you cook some rice. Put the pan with the hot oil somewhere safe out of the way whilst you do this - burning down your house will only make the current situation worse. Your mouth will shrivel up at the sourness of the tamarind a bit, but the tomatoes and honey offset it brilliantly. (I took this photo after I'd taken out one serving, because I wasn't paying attention - the amounts here do 2-3 people, depending on how big your aubergines are).

Get someone else to clean the hob, where possible. Unless cleaning also takes your mind off things, in which case - go wild.

Tomorrow I'm going to have to work out how to make stew, because the butcher had stewing steak and I thought that making stew would be a sensible, capable thing to do to Prepare for Difficult Times. Why I thought that is still a mystery to me, to be honest.