Kamo Aubergine and Tofu

I love aubergine (aka brinjal, eggplant). As I only had tofu and half a can of coconut milk at home, I decided to make this dish a few days ago: our garden is yielding at least 3 varieties of aubergines this year, and lots of super chilies and some not-too-bad cilantro, so I try to come up with recipes to use the fresh veggies from the garden...

This is sort of inspired by Malaysian cuisine...

Ingredients

1 aubergine - about 4" in diameter and about 3-4" tall (i used kamo variety from my garden)
1/2 package of extra firm tofu
3 green chilies
1/2 medium yellow onion
2 Tbsp of chopped cilantro for garnish
soy sauce
worcestershire sauce
black bean paste (optional)
5-6 garlic cloves
2 inch piece of giner
3-4 dry red chilies
sambal oelek (if have it handy)
5 Tbsp coconut milk (optional)
4 Tbsp oil

Preparation

1. if you have a mortar and pestle, pound the garlic, ginger, dry red chilies to a paste and set aside; else, just blend it coarsely
2. dice the tofu and aubergine; slice the onions finely
3. heat oil in a pan, add the tofu cubes and 1Tbsp black bean paste and 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp worcestershire sauce and sautee the tofu cubes till brown, turning the cubes over as needed; take the tofu out of the pan and set aside
4. in the same pan, add the onions and ginger-garlic-dry red chili paste and sautee till it turns translucent; add a little more oil if needed for sauteeing
5. add aubergine cubes and sautee them in the same pan
6. when aubergines look paritally cooked, add the coconut milk, if using it
7. add 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp worcestershire sauce and some water so the dish is not too dry
8. add sambal oelek, if using it
9. let it cook till aubergine is not raw anymore and still firm, not mushy
10. stir in the sauteed tofu and let it simmer together for a minute or so
11. garnish with fresh green chilies (slit open or chopped fine) and some cilantro
12. serve with nasi lemak (cooked rice in coconut milk) and sambal oelek on the side as in photo below; or just have it with plain steamed rice, or even roti or naan.