Curried Eggplant

I love curry. Red, yellow, green...they are all beautiful to me and I love to eat them all. My heart, however, really belongs to coconut milk-based yellow curry (which is apparently the least healthy - no wonder I love it so much). I end up making some version of yellow curry for myself often. It is something that you can make with ingredients you have around. I almost always have an onion, a beer, and a can of coconut milk on hand. This way, whatever I've got becomes an instant curry sensation. Eggplant curry is my favorite because the texture of the eggplant changes with this cooking method to be silky smooth. It almost melts away in your mouth. The spongy eggplant also soaks up all of the coconut milk and curry flavors. This is a great side dish or simple weekend lunch.
Curried Eggplant
1 eggplant
1 onion
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp. curry powder (or to taste)
1/2 can beer
1/2 can coconut milk
salt and pepper
olive oil
cilantro and sunflower seeds (to garnish)

1. Peel the eggplant and slice it into 1 inch cubes. Chop the onion into strips and coarsely chop the garlic. Since this dish only has one major vegetable, I like for the onion slices to be big enough to feel like a second element.
2. In about 1 Tablespoon of olive oil, saute the eggplant at medium high heat for 5 minutes or so, until they develop some color. Eggplant are like a sponge, so they will soak up the oil right away.
3. Add the onions and garlic, season with salt and pepper and curry powder and cook for 4-5 minutes. My curry powder is super strong and hot. If yours is more mild, you can add more powder and add some heat with cayenne powder or hot sauce.
4. Add beer and coconut milk and season again with salt and pepper. Obviously, a beer that has won a blue ribbon at some point is preferable to one that has not.
5. Bring to a slow boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for 30 minutes on low.
6. Now the eggplant will have the smoothest texture imaginable and you won't be able to eat it fast enough. You can serve it alone or with rice or cous cous.
I like mine garnished with cilantro, sunflower seeds for crunch, and a squeeze of lime juice to combat the heat.
This dish might not win any beauty pageants, but the taste is so fantastic that I could eat it any time.