Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Eggplants-Spicy Sour Eggplants

Car troubles,  reluctance to borrow out of the house.. which allowed time with Mme Ramotswe  and the warmth of Africa with heavy doses of early 1920s/1930s British mysteries... has finally lifted for the fact to filter in:
Dinner and get-together on Christmas Eve!!!
A quick check in the vegetable bin brought out those tiny eggplants..this time, am tackling a different recipe and one  I have not made in years!
I stumbled upon this blog of Kashmiri Recipes and Chandramukhi Ganju's elegant one. There are slight variations in the recipe: the use of garlic in one and the use of hing/asafoetida in the other. However the end result is a wonderful rich vegetarian dish with this luscious vegetable! So much for superlatives!
Recipe tomorrow...:-)

I have not added Yogurt to this recipe and have taken the liberty to garnish the dish with fresh finely chopped corainder.
Ingredients
10-small purple eggplants
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp Fennel powder
1tsp Dried Ginger Powder
1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder
1/2 tsp Red Chilli powder
1/2tsp turmeric Powder
About 1/8 tsp Black Cardamom powder
About 1/8 tsp Green Cardamom powder
About1/8th tsp Cinnamon powder
1 tsp Garlic paste
4 tbsp Onion paste
3 tsps Tamarind paste
Salt
Oil for frying
About one cup or more  of hot water
Finely chopped corainder for garnish

Method
Score the eggplants crosswise.
Soak in water mixed with a tsp of turmeric for about 15 minutes
Wipe dry with paper towels
Fry in oil until the edges start turning red
Drain and keep aside
In the same oil, temper the cumin seeds
Add the onion and garlic paste and saute for a few minutes,
Add all the powders and bhunao = until the oil comes out
Add the Tamarind paste and saute for a few minutes
Add the hot water and  let it come to a boil
Add the fried eggplants and simmer  on medium heat for 5- 8 minutes.
Company for Christmas Eve dinner yesterday  and this appealed to the South Indian palatte with it's tangy tamarind flavour and went really well with Ghee Rice and fried green chillies with salt and asafoetida!

5 comments:

  1. Wow mouthwatering.. Nice click..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Anu! The dish itself has that very South-Indian tangy flavor from the tamarind but is uniquely Kashmiri with fennel and dried ginger!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I think these are the eggplants you were talking about! I see these almost year around, but as for their origin i shall have to talk to the green grocer.Will keep tjis in mind!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mouthwatering clicks..looks awesome..
    You have a wonderful blog..happy to follow you:)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks Suja! Hope the dish comes out well.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for your valuable feedback!