Stuffed Brinjal Masala Curry

Ingredients

8-Tiny Purple Brinjals

1/2 Medium Onion or 1 1/2 Cups of coarsely chopped onion

3 large cloves garlic

1/2 tsp turmeric powder and 1/4 tsp for soaking the brinjals

1 stem curry leaves and more for garnish

2 green chillies or according to your heat level

Salt

1/4 cup hot water

Masala Powder

2 tbsps of whole coriander seeds

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/2 tsp cummin seeds

2 green cardamom pods

3 cloves

1 tiny 1/4 inch piece of Indian Cinnamon

5 black peppercorns

Method

Wash the brinjals, cut them into crosswise slits and soak them in water with 1/4 tsp of turmeric for 15 minutes. Drain, pat dry and keep aside.

For the Masala powder

Meanwhile dry roast all the ingredients separately on medium high heat until fragrant and they start changing color. Grind to a fine powder. You will have a little more than 2 tbsps of ground masala powder.

For the Onion paste

Coarsely chop the onion and lightly crush the garlic cloves, 

Heat oil in the pan, 

Saute the onion, chopped green chillies, 1 stem of curry leaves, garlic cloves and turmeric powder on medium high heat until soft,

Drain with a slotted spoon, grind into smooth paste and add salt.

Add more oil to the pan,

Mix 2 tbps of the masala powder to the onion paste and stuff the brinjals ,

Wash out the grinder/mixer bowl with about a 1/4 cup of hot water and keep aside

Frying  and the curry base

Fry the brinjals in the oil on high heat for about 4 minutes or so,

Add the hot water with the rest of leftover paste and cook for a couple of minutes,

Close the lid and turn the heat down to medium low and cook until done.

Check to see if the water evaporates and add accordingly so that the gravy and brinjals do not burn.

Season with fried curry leaves and finely chopped coriander.

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!

Brinjal Fry, South Indian Style!

This was an attempt to recreate a dear friend's mother's delicious recipe. Since then, she has her own blog and has posted the original recipe! The only change in this recipe is to use of Vegetable Oil for frying instead of Coconut Oil.

Ingredients

Purple Baby Eggplants-6

Make several slits crosswise until the stem. [Here I made only one slit, which will make the recipe milder in flavour]

Soak in water for about 15 minutes. Wipe dry.

Masala Marinade

Ginger Garlic paste- 1tsp

Besan/Chickpea Flour-1tsp

Turmeric-1tsp

Red Chilli powder-1tsp

Coconut Oil-1tsp

Coconut Milk/Cream-1tsp

Chopped curry leaves-1tsp

Chopped corainder-1tsp

Mix the ingredients above to make a smooth paste.

Stuff the brinjals with the paste  and coat the outside too.

Let it marinate for  half hour or more.

Heat Oil and deep fry until done.

Alternately we can pan fry too but the shape might get squashed a bit.

Updating the Recipe

I did feel that that marinade did not stick to the brinjals properly so as a means to sop it up, had fried some onions [ sliced lengthwise] in the same oil. They came out delish! One needs to have more slices in  the brinjal for the marinade to stick and the brinjal to cook properly.

The original recipe can be found at Roja's Recipes.

 Madras, Summer 2009: Rice, Avial, Mango Morukootan, Brinjal Fry, Pappadums, Ari/Rice Kondattams