Eggplant-Chickpea Curry with Cranberry-Cashew Biryani

I made this once before but didn't post it, possibly because curried eggplant does not look too appetizing.

It's great, though. I always wondered how Chinese and Indian restaurants get eggplant to be so smooth and velvety; the answer, apparently, it to cook it at low temperature for a long time (in this case, about 45 minutes).

Normally I would just serve a curry like this over plain rice, but Appetite for Reduction suggests pairing it with Cranberry-Cashew Biryani, so that's what I did. It's rice cooked with Indian spices, onion, and garlic, and with peas, dried cranberries, and cashews stirred in at the end.