Weeknight Curry Rice with Eggplant, Spinach and Lotus Root

​This felt like an easy starter because I grew up eating and ultimately making Japanese curry from the packet, and this felt like a great recipe that was on the one hand very familiar but also had a fun twist. This curry calls for lotus root, eggplant, spinach, carrots, and pork belly (game changer!) instead of the typical chicken, carrots, and potatoes, so I was intrigued. I love lotus root, but have only prepared it one way, stir fried for Japanese New Year’s (it is one of my favorite dishes to eat, and I’m very grateful to my mom for teaching me how to do it!)
 
The recipe itself was very easy to prepare. It took a while to get the eggplant “melted” like the recipe asked for, but man was it worth it!! I don’t know why I had never thought of swapping out the items in this curry (except maybe the meat or serving it over udon instead of rice,) but I don’t know if I will ever want to make curry the way I used to anymore.

Here it is in the pot! Obviously not a food stylist or photographer but look at all the colors :)

​I loved the silkiness of the spinach and the eggplant in this curry, and it still had some bite with the carrot and lotus root. I wasn’t sure what the strong flavor of the curry would taste like with all those vegetables, but man did it work. It was absolutely delicious and absolutely worth it! Unsurprisingly, a huge win and something I will definitely make again. We’re off to a fantastic start!