Its been quite a while since I had not eaten Brinjal or Vangyachi bhaji. Not many people are big fans of brinjal, but this one tasted really yummy.
Now I am a once in a blue moon cook, never really bothered to cook when I used to stay with my mom. But these extended stays out of your home town force us to get into things we usually avoid. Likewise for my cooking. I do know a thing or two about the basics of cooking, but what i do know very well is to eat good food and to tell if it is good! That said, back to baingan ke curry.
I vaguely remembered the taste of my mum's preparation, but was not sure of the recipes. So did some googling, here is my dig at it. It is similar to pakistani and maharashtrian style, I gave it my personal touch.
So to begin with, cut small pieces of brinjal, i cut them like small wedges. The bringal i took was a big long one, maybe 300 gms. After making the cuts, it filled 3 bowlfuls. Ok, so after cutting, I kept them in water, this is supposed to take off the bitterness. Save around 20 mins.
Handful of peanuts, roasted them on the roti pan till they started making popping sound. Cooled them, and peeled off their skins, put them in a mixxie and made nice powder.
1 large spoonful of tamarind, soak it in water, say 30 or 60ml. Now you need to start squeezing the tamarinds so that their extract come in the water. When using this mix later, you need to squeeze and drain the tamarinds so that only the pulpy water based extract is used.
Masala mix = 2 small spoonful of garam masala (curry powder), 1 spoonful coriender powder, 1 spoonful jeera powder, 2 pinch asetofida, 1spoonful salt.
Chop 1 big onion and 3 or 4 big garlic petals. 2 big green chillies. 3 or 4 sticks of dry curry leaves (they get dry anyways when u have bought them 2 weeks ago and left in the fridge.) So my touch was to cut those curry leaves with kitchen scissors.
You also need two or three teaspoons of grated coconut.
Heat 2 big teaspoons oil, you might need more if you are not using non stick vessels or utensils for cooking. More oil just makes it more tastier, needless to mention the flip side of consuming too much oil...
So heat the oil, add half small spoonful of mustard seeds and same amount of jeera. I cover it till the mustard seeds stop popping. Low flame, if required. Add the curry leaves.
Add the chopped chillies, add the asetofida, stir for min, add the chopped onion and garlic. Keep stirring lightly, when the onion turns brownish, add the grated coconut, keep stirring 2 mins, then add peanut powder, keep stirring a few minutes more.
Add the masala mix. Keep stirring, add a little water so that the masalas don't start to burn.
After frying the whole concoction it will have considerable volume, will be smelling awesome. Now add the cut brinjal pieces to the mix, keep stirring for 5 to 8 minutes. It will still be a bit dry, doing this gives it a crispy flavour. Now add the tamarind water, add another half glass of water. Keep stirring and leave to boil. Now add a small portion of jaggary, keep stirring. Add the salt if you have not already added it in the masala mix.
Leave it for 5 to 10 mins on low flame, cover with lid.
Voala... the curry is now ready!
Now I am a once in a blue moon cook, never really bothered to cook when I used to stay with my mom. But these extended stays out of your home town force us to get into things we usually avoid. Likewise for my cooking. I do know a thing or two about the basics of cooking, but what i do know very well is to eat good food and to tell if it is good! That said, back to baingan ke curry.
I vaguely remembered the taste of my mum's preparation, but was not sure of the recipes. So did some googling, here is my dig at it. It is similar to pakistani and maharashtrian style, I gave it my personal touch.
So to begin with, cut small pieces of brinjal, i cut them like small wedges. The bringal i took was a big long one, maybe 300 gms. After making the cuts, it filled 3 bowlfuls. Ok, so after cutting, I kept them in water, this is supposed to take off the bitterness. Save around 20 mins.
Handful of peanuts, roasted them on the roti pan till they started making popping sound. Cooled them, and peeled off their skins, put them in a mixxie and made nice powder.
1 large spoonful of tamarind, soak it in water, say 30 or 60ml. Now you need to start squeezing the tamarinds so that their extract come in the water. When using this mix later, you need to squeeze and drain the tamarinds so that only the pulpy water based extract is used.
Masala mix = 2 small spoonful of garam masala (curry powder), 1 spoonful coriender powder, 1 spoonful jeera powder, 2 pinch asetofida, 1spoonful salt.
Chop 1 big onion and 3 or 4 big garlic petals. 2 big green chillies. 3 or 4 sticks of dry curry leaves (they get dry anyways when u have bought them 2 weeks ago and left in the fridge.) So my touch was to cut those curry leaves with kitchen scissors.
You also need two or three teaspoons of grated coconut.
Heat 2 big teaspoons oil, you might need more if you are not using non stick vessels or utensils for cooking. More oil just makes it more tastier, needless to mention the flip side of consuming too much oil...
So heat the oil, add half small spoonful of mustard seeds and same amount of jeera. I cover it till the mustard seeds stop popping. Low flame, if required. Add the curry leaves.
Add the chopped chillies, add the asetofida, stir for min, add the chopped onion and garlic. Keep stirring lightly, when the onion turns brownish, add the grated coconut, keep stirring 2 mins, then add peanut powder, keep stirring a few minutes more.
Add the masala mix. Keep stirring, add a little water so that the masalas don't start to burn.
After frying the whole concoction it will have considerable volume, will be smelling awesome. Now add the cut brinjal pieces to the mix, keep stirring for 5 to 8 minutes. It will still be a bit dry, doing this gives it a crispy flavour. Now add the tamarind water, add another half glass of water. Keep stirring and leave to boil. Now add a small portion of jaggary, keep stirring. Add the salt if you have not already added it in the masala mix.
Leave it for 5 to 10 mins on low flame, cover with lid.
Voala... the curry is now ready!
