Kitchen-Kollections

Hi all..happy new year to everyone. After a long time i am posting a new recipe and this time its the turn of our good old king of vegetables..i.e Eggplant!! You have to be very careful while picking eggplant..it should not have any brown spots or any holes. Make sure they are fresh and clean. Eggplant if fresh and cooked properly will be very tastier but if not then it will give a bitter taste in the mouth. Its not an apealing vegetable to kids so i have never tried giving my toddler but if there is any version of eggplant which can be given to kids..then do please share. For now, here is the recipe for eggplant curry with ginger. The curry while cooking gives a beautiful aroma which is quite apeatizing.

Ingredients

10 small baby eggplants
1 tbs chopped ginger
1/2 cup diced onion
1 whole green chilli or 2 small thai peppers
1 cup of chopped coriandar
2 tsp tamarind paste mixed with 2 tsp of water

For tempering

1 tsp jeera
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp urad dal

2tbs oil
salt to taste
water
Method

• Wash the eggplants with enough water so that the skin is clean and shiny
• Cut the stalk but don’t remove it. Cut the eggplant lengthwise till the knife just touches the base of the eggplant.Now cut the eggplant from the other side from stalk to the tip of the eggplant. It makes a plus sign and both the sides are open.
• Put all the pieces in salt water and gently wash them. Repeat this process two more times.
• Grind ginger,onion, green chili and coriander into a paste adding little water.
• Take a flat bottom pan, add oil and tempering ingredients.
• Place each eggplant in the pan carefully and keep tossing them till all are well coated with oil. Add salt and cook till eggplants are half cooked.
• I usually sprinkle little water at this stage. Keep the heat at medium. Slow cooking helps here.
• After the eggplants are more than half cooked, add the paste and mix well. Make sure the eggplants don’t break. Gently lift each eggplant and toss around the pan.
• In the end, add the tamarind paste and again mix it carefully. Cook for 5-8 more minutes and switch off the gas. Transfer the curry into a serving bowl and garnish it with finely chopped coriander.

Serve hot with rice!

 This one is another from my MIL recipes…i ate this chutney for the first time..and it really tasted good. Try this out and let me know how it came out!

Ingredients

1/4 tsp Mustard seeds
1/4 tsp jeera
1/4 tsp minapapappu
2 dry red chillies
A pinch of turmeric
8 slit brinjals or vankaya
1/4 cup water
Salt to taste
2 green chilli
1/4 cup chopped onion
3 tbs Roasted mustard powder
2 cups curd
Chopped coriandar for garnishing
2 tbs oil

Method

•  Wash and slit brinjals vertically. Keep them in salt water for 20 min and then wash them again.
•  Take a deep pan and add oil, mustard seeds, jeera, minapapappu, dry red chilli, turmeric. Once mustard seeds start spluttering add chopped green chilli and onion. Fry till onion turn translucent.
•  Add brinjal pieces and add salt. Mix it well and let it cook for 15 minutes. Add water also.
• Once the brinjals are properly cooked, take them out in a dish and let it cool.

• Once the brinjals are completely cooled, add curd and coriandar and mix it well. Add 3 tbs roasted mustard powder and again mix it well. It goes very well with hot steaming rice.

This recipe is one of the many vankai recipes in my MIL recipe treasure.  For this recipe, there is a special powder which has be grinded seperately.  Here is the recipe

Ingredients

Menthi powder to be roasted and grinded
1/2 tsp methi seeds
1/4 cup dhaniya
1/4 cup minapapappu
1/4 cup sanagapappu
8 red chillies
1/4 tsp inguva
Salt to taste

3 tbs oil
6 methi seeds
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1 cup chopped onion
2 chopped tomatoes
20 vankai – slit vertically on both sides- should make a plus sign. soak for 30 min in salt water and wash them.
Method

• Take a deep pan and add oil. Add methi seeds. Once they turn light brown add mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add turmeric and add  vankai and mix well so that pieces are well coated with oil. Add salt as per your taste. Cover with lid.

• After the brinjals are half cooked, add tomatoes and again mix it well.

• Add 6 spoons of the powder and mix well. Cook for 15 more minutes.

This is another typical hyderabadi dish which goes quite well with biryani. With a rich gravy made of peanuts, coconut powder and sesame seeds, it gets tastier the day after it is made same like biryani.. I tried different versions of this dish but this is the one i liked the best so far. Its quite important that the stuffed brinjals are fried well and there is no rawness left in the brinjals and taste of the stuffing goes right into the heart of the brinjal!!  Well..here goes the recipe..

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
3/4 tsp chilli powder
1/2 cup thick tamarind pulp
1 large onion
4 green chillies

For stuffing
1/2 cup coconut
1/4 cup peanuts
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp cummin seeds
Salt to taste

Method

• Wash and clean each brinjal. Make two slits(plus sign) in each brinjal from base towards stalk end without separating quarters. Don’t remove the stalk.  Soak the brinjals in salted water for 10 minutes.
• In the meantime, roast coconut, peanuts,sesame seeds, coriandar seeds and cumin seeds. Cool and grind it into a coarse powder. Add little salt and mix well.
• Now take each brinjal and stuff the powder into the slits and keep them aside.
• Grind chopped onion and green chili into a smooth paste.
• Heat oil, drop the stuffed brinjals into hot oil, shake the pan from time to time and lift out brinjals when they change colour. This process will take at least 15-20 minutes on medium high heat. Make sure that brinjal pieces are not torn off. Better use a tong to rotate the brinjals.
• Take another pan and add oil and cumin and curry leaves. Once they splutter, add ginger garlic paste and fry.
• Add  ground onion and green chilli paste and fry till oil seperates and the paste becomes light brown in color.
• Add the remaining stuffing and mix it well.  After few minutes, slowly add the brinjals, then add salt, tamarind pulp and sufficient water to cook the brinjals till tender but firm.  It will take at least 15 minutes on medium high.

Serve hot with mutter pulav or plain rice!

Today’s special recipe is brinjal or vankai pacchadi. I remember whenever my mom used to make this chutney in the kitchen..i could recognize the smell from the distance..and i used to just pick a plate..put some rice and thats it..wait wait till the chutney is complete. :) Best thing about this chutney is the lemon flavour and that tantilising taste of roasted brinjal. Well…here is the recipe and try it out for yourself.

Ingredients:

Big oval shaped brinjal [2 small ones or 1 medium to big size]
3 green chillies
3 dry red chillies
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp jeera or fennel seeds
2-3 methi seeds or fenugreek seeds
3 pinches of inguva (hing)
A Pinch of turmeric
Juice of 1 full lemon

Equipments needed for this recipe

1. Small pan

2. Grinder

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Method :

Roasted brinjal

The chutnery..is ready!!

Brinjal Chutney

1. Apply 2 drops of oil and spread it evenly on the entire surface of vankai. It should be shiny once you are done  applying the oil.

2. Place the brinjal on the smallest burner / ring on your stove top, keep the heat level to medium. This is the roasting process . Although one can roast the brinjal in oven too..but this seems more simple and easy. If the brinjal is tender then it should take about 20 mins to roast. You might want to turn the brinjal to different sides [like we do when we grill] so all the skin is roasted. You can tell that brinjal is roasted when you can see the skin falling off and the brinjal is reduced to 1/3 of its size.

3. Shut the stove and put the brinjals on a plate so they can cool. Once they cool, remove the skin and separate out the flesh of brinjal. This is what will be used in chutney.  While the brinjals are roasting, you can do the popu/tadka part.

4. In a pan , take about 1.5 tbsp of vegetable oil, add mustard seeds, urad dal, jeera, 2-3 menthulu, 3 dried red chillies, 3 green chillies , 3 pinches of inguva , curry leaves. Once they start spluttering and seeds are turning brown, remove from heat and add a pinch of turmeric. Let it cool,

5. The final step is to mix the roasted flesh of brinjal to the popu , squeeze juice of one lemon on it and give a rough grind so you can still see the popu seeds and thats it..vankai pacchadi is done!!!

Note : You can also roast brinjal in a preheated oven (350 degrees). for 1 hour. 

This is a great recipe , goes well with rice, parathas, chapattis, fulkas or even bread.

This  is another typical andhra recipe.  

Brinjal /Eggplant Tomato curry
 
Ingredients

8-10 small eggplants chopped into uniform pieces
1 medium /large size tomato
1 onion chopped
5-6 green chillies
1/2 tsp chopped ginger
10 curry leaves
4 red chillies
optional garlic clove
 
1/4 tsp  mustard
1/2 tsp urad dal
1/2 tsp chana dal
1/2 tsp jeera
 pinch of turmeric
2 tbs oil

Method 

• In a pan add 2 tsp oil, when oil is sufficiently hot, add mustard seeds, urad dal, chana dal, and jeera. when dal begins to turn brown, add red chillies and curry leaves. add ginger /garlic and stir. 
• Add chopped onions and green chillies. once onions begin to turn brown, add eggplant slices and mix well . Add turmeric and salt and keep mixing and cover with lid.
• Once the eggplant pieces are all tender, add diced tomato pieces. add more salt if needed and some chilli powder.
• Add chopped coriander and serve hot with chapatis.