Currying Favor Eggplant

This particular recipe is from Moosewood's New Classics cookbook, and I've (of course) made changes, as noted.

2 cups of chopped onions (I probably used closer to 4, because I have a bunch of onions)
2 tblp vegetable oil (no idea how much I used)
2 large garlic cloves (okay, more like five or six)
1 fresh chile, minced and seeded (left it out because I don't have any)
1 tblsp grated fresh ginger (probably more than that, maybe double)
the spices (I used approximately these amounts)
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardomom
1 tsp salt
generous pinch saffron

1 cup orange juice (didn't have any, so used the juice of a lemon in the fridge, plus a splash of orange extract, plus some honey; didn't measure anything)

5 cups cubed eggplant (I had roasted the eggplant already, several days ago: cut in half lengthwise, put face down on parchment, oiled lightly, and baked for awhile; I might have had a little more or less than 5 cups of the cooked stuff)
4 cups zucchini (didn't have any)
1.5 cups bell peppers (I never include these)
3 cups diced fresh or canned tomatos (I used a can of Muir Glen tomatos)
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil (I used some pesto I had in the freezer)

I also added a handful of beet greens that was too small an amount to freeze on its own, plus about a cup of frozen spinach sitting in the freezer.

I did the onions, then added the garlic and ginger, then the spices, then the eggplant. What mostly appealed to me was the spices, plus making use of the eggplant. I like to roast or bake eggplant before adding it to a recipe--and, when I'm feeling really ambitious, I salt it first and then rinse it, to draw out some of the water. Zucchini would have been nice, or more eggplant, but the whole thing is quite tasty. I've been eating it with one of the wheat rolls I made last weekend when testing the Cooks Illustrated recipe.

This week's cooking adventure will include turnips, plus maybe their greens, and, separately, a big summer squash (I don't remember what type) that one of my coworkers is going to share with me. (We have been trading tales of our CSA shares over the summer, and, in general, discuss cooking and baking quite a lot.)

Meanwhile, speaking of work, lots of shit going down; as John Fogerty noted, there's a bad moon on the rise. No, really; seriously unpleasant shit. And, for once, I'm one of the calmer ones. The reality is, I can't afford not to be (and I don't think I'm in immediate danger). I have some suspicions about how the new powers that be are going to rearrnage my job, because of what they think I should be doing. Of course, if my suspicions are correct, they're going to take away the things I like most and do best and I'll keep the really boring parts and add some more of that. I can't afford to have an opinion about that, though. Remember that part where I gave all my savings to a bank? Yeah. That. Which means I'll do what I can and what I have to do, and I still won't be lugging 50-pound sacks of flour.

I'm reminded of John LeCarre's "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy." The beauty of the whole plot was how the spy basically managed to turn the whole place inside out. The people who were right were shoved out the door, or made to seem wrong or discredited. In my case, if stuff happens the way I expect it will, the powers that be will be taking exactly the steps needed to fail, and fail big. Fun times.

So, really, I think I need to move up that "win the lottery" plan and implement that immediately.