Eggplant Curry

Like any good Indian food lover, we love Brinjal/ Eggplant/ Aubergine. Call it by any name, cook it in any way…bake, roast, fry or mash…all sorts of dishes with this versatile ingredient tastes good. The farmers market yesterday was bursting with the most gorgeous eggplants and I ended up buying a batch.


I usually make eggplant spead, fry or add it to pasta but this time I wanted to try a recipe that was passed down by my mom long time back and has a rustic charm of south India.


The original recipe calls for dash of coconut and deep frying the egg plants in sesame oil. I decided to skip the coconut part (but feel free to add it) and shallow fried it in canola oil to save us from some extra calories.


Unlike many south Indian dishes, it didn’t consume much time. The dish tasted tangy, hot and sweet. It was sure a winner recipe. We had it with rice but I bet it would have tasted good with rotis as well.


Ingredients


Purple small eggplants 8-10


Onion 1 medium (finely chopped)


Garlic 1 teaspoon (finely chopped)


Ginger 1 teaspoon (finely chopped)


Coriander powder 1 teaspoon


Red chili powder 2 teaspoons


Mustard seeds 1 teaspoon


Tamarind pulp 1 teaspoon


Sugar ½ teaspoon


Canola oil 1 tablespoon


Salt to taste


Method


Slit the eggplants into four without cutting through and keeping the stem intact. Soak them in water.


Keep a large-heavy skillet over medium heat.


Heat oil in the skillet, and add the mustard seeds.


Once the seeds start to pop, add onions, ginger and garlic. Fry till they are tender and browned.


Add eggplants and sauté for six to seven minutes until the eggplants become soft.


Sprinkle red chili powder, coriander powder, sugar and salt on the eggplants.


Sauté for two more minutes till the eggplants are coated with all the spices. Be careful not to break up the eggplants.


Now add tamarind pulp and cook for four to five minutes. You can add water if it becomes too dry. Keep stirring in between.

Remove the skillet from the heat and serve it hot with rice.