I started work on a curry late Saturday afternoon with camera within easy reach.

The plan was for a chicken curry. Then I remembered that a friend gave us several eggplants, so I decided to factor them into the plan.

So here we go. You can click on individual photos for larger versions, or click here to go directly to a gallery of all the photos (although I haven’t transferred the accompanying text).

First step: Sharpen knife. Then slice and chop the onions.

In this case, I had a little help. Ms. Wally was standing by to offer advice and assistance. And to see if there were any bits of food that might appeal to a cat.

I use chicken thighs and remove the skin, which otherwise adds blogs of unwanted fat. But do not use boneless thighs. The bones add considerably to the flavor during cooking.

That sounds so gross, doesn’t it? And I’m sure I’ll hear from the vegetarians among us, so I’ll just try to apologize in advance.

In any case, the trick is to begin by frying the chopped onions at relatively high heat, stirring almost constantly so that they don’t burn.

I use an old Griswold cast iron Dutch oven rescued decades ago from a trash heap. It remains one of my favorites. You don’t have to add any oil at this point as the onions will quickly start giving up their moisture.

The best results come when you keep cooking and stirring the onions until they begin to caramelize, which usually takes 15-20 minutes. At that point they are nicely browned and turning sweet. I often get tired before getting all the way there, but that’s the goal.

When the onions are nicely browned, I add the chicken, turning until brown. As pieces are browned, I remove them to a waiting dish. There are no tricks here, although sometimes I’ll add a bit of chopped garlic. Don’t overcook the chicken at this stage. Just cook enough that it gets brown.

Once there, remove the last of the chicken.

Now’s the time to add your curry spices to the onion mix. You can create your own curry via your own individual spices (when going this route, I use a mix of ground coriander, cardamom, cumin, cinnamon, garlic, and turmuric, with maybe a hint of ginger) or you can use a good pre-mixed curry power (I suggest blends from Penzeys). Stir in the hot pot. Oh, did I forget to say red peppers? You’ll have to select your favorite variety and level of hot. We’ve gotten used to these little locally grown red peppers, which I keep in the freezer until needed.

Whew. Are we having fun yet?

After the spices get hot and flavorful, I add a little liquid (white wine, broth, or water will all do fine), a fist-full of raisins, and I mix in a little plain yogurt. I might use as much as an 8-ounce container, maybe just half that much. Then add the chicken back into the pot and set it in the oven at anywhere from 325-350 degrees, depending on how fast you want it to be done.

I let this cook in the oven for about 45 minutes, then took out and added two potatoes chopped into large pieces. I also dropped in a handful of baby carrots, then back into the oven.

Next I turned to the eggplant. I haven’t used eggplant in my curry before, so this was an interesting experiment. I browsed several eggplant recipes and decided to fry it a bit before adding to the pot. I’m not sure it was necessary, though.

I finally added the eggplant into the pot just for the last 15 minutes or so of cooking. Out of the frying pan and into the pot.

This all sounds like a long and complicated process, but it’s helped along by generous helpings of wine during the cooking. Wine that goes into the cook, not into the pot, that is.

By the time the pot came out of the oven, it looked so good that we couldn’t help serving it up quickly and chowing down. The only problem was that at this critical stage I was overcome by wine and hunger and, as a result, forgot to get that final classic photo of the curry just as it was plated.

By the time I realized the omission, we had already made significant inroads. But at least you’ll get some idea of the finished product.

So that’s about it. Meda added her signature salad, this time of mixed greens and some chopped watercress, tiny tomatoes, etc.

More wine, of course, with the meal.

Looking at all the pictures, I’m about ready to do it all again.