Haritha's Stuffed Brinjal Roast/ Vankaya Kaaram Koora

Today's post is a dish made with brinjals. A very popular dish  from Andhra. My friend Haritha, who has a YouTube channel in the name of "Haritha's Home and Kitchen" made this dish when we had a get together at my place. She is an amazing cook and you can visit her channel which has lots of cooking videos and authentic recipes. 

I love brinjals but you all might know by now that my husband doesn't like brinjal and so ones in a blue moon I will be making brinjal dishes. As my friend knows about this, she made the delicious roast just for me.

This is a simple dish with minimum ingredients. My mom prepares amazing Andhra dishes, the most famous one is gutti vankaya koora/ Stuffed brinjal curry. In this dish, you have to grind the masala and stuff it in brinjal and roast till done. Within minutes yummy brinjal roast will be ready. Please try this dish and let me know.

Ingredients:

• Brinjal- 7-8
• Oil- 2tbsp

Masala:

1. Grated Coconut- 1Cup
2. Cumin Seeds- 2tbsp
3. Red Chili Powder- 3tbsp
4. Garlic Cloves-4
5. Salt- as required

Method:

1. Cut the brinjal length wise keeping the stem intact. Immerse them in water for 5- 10 minutes. 
2. Grind the masala to a paste. Stuff this masala in brinjal. Repeat with all the brinjals till done.
3. Heat a deep bottomed vessel and pour oil, when it becomes hot, add the stuffed brinjals and mix well. Stir well till everything is mixed and the brinjals become soft and tender. Enjoy with hot rice.

Simple Stuffed Brinjal Curry/ Gutti Vankaya Curry/ Vazhuthananga Niracha Curry

I am a big fan of brinjal. Brinjal in any form(except raw) I would love to gobble up. But after marriage, intake of brinjal has come down as my husband doesn't love this veggie at all.. :(

So whenever I am in Kerala or when my parents or in- laws are visiting us, I would get a chance to eat this. As most of my life was spent in Andhra, I love the bhagare baingan/ gutti vankaya koora - a specialty of Hyderabad.

This curry is entirely different from bhagare baingan. This is a simple and easy-to-make recipe. This is a perfect finger licking dish that can be served along with rotis, naans, chapatis and rice. Try this out and you will love this for sure.

In this dish, the brinjals are stuffed with a simple masala, shallow fried and cooked and simmered in tamarind gravy. And here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

1. Brinjal- 6-7 nos
2. Onions- 2 nos
3. Shallots- ½ cup
4. Green Chillies- 3 nos
5. Ginger and Garlic Paste- 1 tbsp
6. Red Chilli Powder- 2 tbsp+ 1 tbsp
7. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
8. Coriander Powder- 3 tbsp
9. Garam Masala Powder- 1 tsp
10. Fenugreek Powder- 1 tsp
11. Tamarind- lemon size
12. Oil- 2 tbsp
13. Mustard Seeds- 1 tsp
14. Cumin Seeds- 1 tsp
15. Fenugreek Seeds- 1 tsp
16. Curry Leaves- few
17. Salt- as required

Method:

1. Soak the tamarind in a little warm water.
2. Slit each brinjals diagonally with the stalks intact. Mix 1 tbsp of red chilli powder and salt in a bowl using little amount of water. Stuff this mix in the slitted brinjals and keep this aside.
3. Heat oil in a pan, lightly fry these brinjals for about 10 minutes on medium flame and keep this on kitchen towel.
4. Chop the onions and shallots using a blender. In the same above oil splutter mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds.
5. Add the chopped onions- shallots mixture and stir well till they turn translucent. Add the slited green chillies, curry leaves. After about 5- 10 minutes add the ginger and garlic paste.
6. As the raw smell disappears add the brinjals and lightly stir for about a minute. Now add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and garam masala powder. Add the tamarind water and add about a ½ Cup of water and let this boil for about 15- 20 minutes on low flame by closing with a lid.
7. At last add the fenugreek powder, stir and switch off the flame and serve along with piping hot rice and enjoy.

Roasted Eggplant Chutney/ Chutta Vazhuthananga Chammanthi

You might have noticed that in my blog till now I have posted only one eggplant dish as my husband is a big choosy eater of vegetables and this eggplant is a big No No for him. But as I made this chutney, without knowing he tasted it and liked it a lot. Only later he came to know about the eggplant in it :-)

I love this vegetable a lot. In any form I love to eat this. In this recipe, the eggplants are roasted over direct flame till it turns dark and the skin can be peeled off. This dish gives a unique smoky flavor. This chutney tastes superb not just with rice, but along with idly/dosa as well.

Just try this out…

Ingredients:

1. Eggplants- 2 nos
2. Red Chillies- 4-5 nos
3. Shallots- 6-7 nos
4. Salt- as per taste
5. Tamarind- a small piece
6. Coconut oil- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Roast the eggplants on direct flame and turn the eggplants using tongs so that the skin is charred and blistered uniformly.
2. When the eggplants are cooled, peel the skin and chop into small pieces.
3. Grind all the ingredients (except coconut Oil) along with the chopped eggplant till it turns into paste.
4. Transfer this to a serving bowl and at last add the coconut oil. Serve this along hot steaming rice.

Baingan Bhaja / Begun Bhaja / Eggplant fry

My dear friend once told me about an easy dish, which can be made within minutes and which is very tasty and delicious. It is a daily struggle in my house about what to cook for lunch and dinner. I ask my Husband and he is like what ever you make I will eat. Some days i even call my mom and my MIL to suggest some dishes. . :)

It is very difficult for me to decide, so one day when my friend called me she told me about this simple yet tasty dish. But as brinjal is a big NO to my Husband (he is a bit choosy about veggies) it was not there in my house. The next time I remembered to buy eggplant when I bought veggies, so that I could try this amazing dish and you can see the result.

This is a classic Bengali delicacy, served as part of traditional wedding feast. This can even be ate as a snack. In this dish, the brinjal pieces are mixed with all the spices and shallow fried. This is done within seconds and will be enjoyed by all.

Ingredients:

1. Eggplant- 1no
2. Red Chilli Powder- 2 tsp
3. Garlic(chopped)- 3 nos
4. Salt- as per taste
5. Turmeric Powder- 1 tsp
6. Oil- 2 tbsp

Method:

1. Wash and cut the brinjal into thick round slices.
2. Mix all the other ingredients in a bowl by adding little water and make a smooth paste.
3. Rub the brinjal slices with the above paste and shallow fry each side till they turn golden brown.

Mom’s Stuffed Brinjal Curry and my first award

This is my family’s favorite brinjal curry loved by all. My mom used to make this a lot as this was a hit among us. I try to replicate the recipe the same way as my mom did, but I could not match upto the flavours of my Mom’s cooking at all, making me believe that it takes something more to create a good recipe than just the ingredients :-)

After several attempts, now I am really close. I recreated (well, almost) the magic which she used in her dishes. In this dish, the brinjal would be soft and juicy and while taking a bite into that, all the flavour and spices would just burst in your mouth.

This curry looks just like bagaira baingan, but that contains roasted peanuts and sesame seeds. Here I am not using peanuts and sesame seeds. This is a simple version of the recipe.

Ingredients:

1. Brinjals- 5-6nos
2. Grated coconut- 1cup
3. Onions- 2nos
4. Cumin seeds- ½ tbsp
5. Ginger and garlic paste- 3tbsp
6. Kashmiri chilli powder- 2tbsp
7. Coriander powder- 2tbsp
8. Turmeric powder- 1tsp
9. Tamarind Juice- Lemon sized ball
10. Oil- 1tbsp
11. Mustard seeds- 1tsp
12. Curry leaves- few
13. Salt- as required

Method:

1. Slit the brinjal from top to bottom, but do not cut the edges. Make 4 slits in each brinjal.
2. Roast the grated coconut slightly and grind it to a fine  paste.
3. Chop 2 onions and fry them in a little oil along with cumin seeds, till the onions turn golden brown in colour. Let it cool and grind this to a fine paste.
4. In a small pan, take the above onion paste, 2tbsp of ginger and garlic paste, 1tbsp of red chilli powder and little turmeric powder and mix well with required amount of water like a paste.
5. Stuff the brinjals with the above mixed paste and keep them aside.
6. Heat oil in a non-stick kadai and splutter mustard seeds. Add remaining sliced onions, curry leaves and stir till it becomes light brown in colour.
7. Into this, add the remaining ginger and garlic paste, salt and fry well. Add the stuffed brinjals and fry well till the brinjals becomes soft and tender (that means that the brinjals are cooked well).
8. Add the remaining red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder and saute for some time till everything blends well.
9. At this stage, add a cup of extracted tamarind juice and let it boil. Lower the flame and add the coconut paste and mix well. Cook covered in a slow heat for few minutes.
10. Can be served with poori, roti or any type of rice.

Award

I have got my first award from one of my blogger friend Harika of Harika’s Kitchen. I am really surprised and I thank her for passing me this wonderful award. I am passing this to my fellow bloggers

1. Nags of  http://www.cookingandme.com
2. Tina of http://kaipunyam.blogspot.com
3. Reshmi of http://funwidfud.blogspot.com
4. Pari of http://cooking-goodfood.blogspot.com
5. Alissa of http://www.constructivedeconstruction.com
6. Suhaina of http://www.mysingaporekitchen.blogspot.com
7. Jay of http://tastyappetite.blogspot.com
8. Sarah of http://www.vazhayila.com
9. Raji of http://www.rakskitchen.net
10. Nash of http://nashplateful.blogspot.com
11. Neenu of http://mywonderfulworldofcooking.blogspot.com
12. Ayeesha of http://tasteofpearlcity.blogspot.com
13. Ambreen of http://simplysweetnsavory.blogspot.com
14. Sharada of http://cookingkriya.blogspot.com
15. Rumana of http://rumanarawat.blogspot.com 

I am sorry to my fellow bloggers, each and every one deserve the award but I have to limit it to 15 bloggers only.

Rules:
1.Accept the award. Post it in your blog with the name of the blogger who has given u this award with a link to his/her blog.
2.Pass it on to 15 other blogger friends…. to keep the ball rolling.
3.Let the nominated blogger know about their award [leave a comment in their most recent post].