Curry House Jalfrezi
If you've ever wanted to recreate that proper curry house jalfrezi at home, this is the one. We've been making this on repeat and it genuinely hits every time; bold, smoky, a little bit spicy, with tender grilled aubergine soaking up all that rich, fragrant sauce. It's the kind of meal that fills the kitchen with incredible smells and makes everyone come wandering in asking what's for dinner. Ready in 40 minutes, which means it's totally doable on a weeknight. Make this tonight, seriously.
Before You Start
- Grill or oven to high heat for aubergine
- Large baking tray
- Blender or liquidiser
- Microplane or fine grater (for ginger & garlic)
- Saucepan
- Small bowl
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp sunflower oil - or olive oil
- 3 tbsp curry powder
- 8 tbsp tomato purée
- 1 large aubergine
- 1 onion
- 5 green bird's-eye chillies
- 1 red bell pepper
- small bunch of coriander
- 12 cherry tomatoes
- 1 tsp garam masala
- ½-2 tsp hot chilli powder
- 500g cooked basmati rice to serve - or used 2 x 250g bags microwavable basmati rice
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp sunflower oil - or olive oil
- 500ml water
- 1 onion
- 5cm piece of fresh ginger
- 5 garlic cloves
- 3 cherry tomatoes
- 500ml water
- ½ red chilli
- ¼ tsp ground coriander
- ¼ tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground fenugreek
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- ¼ tsp paprika
Method
First cook the aubergine
- Trim the aubergine and cut it into 2cm chunks
- Spread over the baking tray. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons oil and a good pinch of salt
- Toss to coat
- Grill for 15 minutes, turning occasionally
- Remove when golden brown all over but not burnt
Meanwhile, make the stock
- Peel and finely chop the onion
- Peel the ginger by scraping off the skin with a spoon and grate
- Peel and grate the garlic
- Put the ginger and garlic into a bowl and mix with 1 tablespoon water to make a paste
Finely chop the red chilli and tomatoes
- Pour the oil into the saucepan
- Add the onions and sauté for 5 minutes
- Add a teaspoon of the ginger and garlic paste
- Add all the remaining spices and half the water and stir
- Simmer for 10 minutes, until browned and reduced completely
- Pour in the rest of the water, stir and transfer to the liquidiser
- Blend to a smooth liquid
- Clean out the pan
Back to the curry
- Peel and finely slice the onion
- Cut the pepper in half and cut out the stem and seeds, then finely slice
- Pick the leaves from the coriander
- Finely chop the stems and roughly chop the leaves
- Trim and finely slice two of the chillies
- Quarter the tomatoes
Pour the remaining oil into the clean saucepan
- Place over a high heat
- Add the onion, pepper and sliced chillies and fry for 3 minutes, stirring regularly
- Stir in the chopped coriander stems and remaining ginger and garlic paste
- Add the curry powder, garam masala, 1/4 teaspoon hot chilli powder, tomato purée, grilled aubergines and stock
- Taste and add more salt, garam masala and chilli powder if needed
- Stir in the tomatoes
- Simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened
Transfer to a serving dish
- Cut the remaining chillies in half lengthways and use them to garnish the curry along with the chopped coriander leaves
- Serve with the rice
Tips & Variations
- Swap the veg: We love this with aubergine but it works brilliantly with cauliflower, courgette or even chunks of tofu if you fancy something a bit different. Just grill or pan-fry them first the same way.
- Control the heat: Jalfrezi should have a bit of a kick but if you're cooking for people who prefer things milder, just dial back the chilli. Add more at the table for those who want it hotter.
- Make it saucier: If you like a thicker, saucier curry (we do), just add a splash more water or a spoonful of tomato puree when everything comes together and let it bubble down to where you want it.
Why This Works
The trick is grilling the aubergine first rather than chucking it straight into the sauce. It gets golden and slightly caramelised on the outside, which gives the whole dish this gorgeous depth you just don't get otherwise. That layering of flavour from the base aromatics (the onion, ginger and garlic cooked down low and slow) is what makes it taste like it's been simmering all day, even though it hasn't.