Spicy Brinjal Roast | Brinjal Curry

Once in a while its okay to indulge and have roast type dishes that are cooked for a really long time and is slightly greasy but absolutely salivating and spicy. This brinjal roast made its appearance in my mom's kitchen a very long time back. We loved it, but it never showed up again because it took a lot of time, a considerable amount of oil and dint really belong in the healthy section.

All of a sudden I was reminded of this dish and wanted to make it. My mom vaguely remembered how it was done, so got the recipe over the phone and it was a winner - why wouldn't it be? spicy and roasted - those are two words i absolutely love when it comes to cooking. :) . So me and the Spicy roasted brinjal were re-united after a decade! ;).

Spicy Brinjal Roast 

Ingredients

Serves - 3
Spice Level - Quite Spicy
Prep Time - 15 min
Cook time - 45 min

Brinjal - 500 gm, chopped lengthwise in medium sized pieces
Onion - 2  Large chopped well
Tomato - 2  Large pureed
Curry/Masala powder - 5 Tbsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 Tsp
Ginger Garlic paste - 1 Tbsp
Cumin/Jeera - 1 Tbsp
Hing - 1/2 Tsp
Oil - 5 Tbsp
Salt - as per need


How do you make it

Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing and jeera - let it roast. Add the onions, ginger garlic paste and saute until the onions are done. Add the tomato puree now , little salt and turmeric, wait until the puree is cooked well. Add the curry powder now and saute until the raw smell of the curry powder vanishes. Now add the brinjal pieces and wrap well with the masala. Bring the flame to low. Close the kadai with a lid. Every few minutes , keep an eye on it and stir it well. The brinjals need to sit on low-medium flame for about 30-40 minutes, until you see the skin of the brinjal start to shrink, and you get a nice semi-dry gravy texture as seen in pic. In between the 30-40 min time frame, add the remaining salt too. Make sure to stir every now and then, to prevent the curry from burning. If it gets too dry in between, add a spoon or two of oil and wrap well and continue till the brinjals are completely roasted.

Serve along with curd rice or rotis. :) 



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Roasted Aubergine Chutney

Chutneys are a great savior when you are in a hurry to ruffle up something. Also a great way to take in veggies that you may not be fond of.I use a basic kara [spicy] chutney recipe and try to include a different veggie each time to grind along with it. This was one such experiment.The end result was a very flavorful chutney which we liked very much. :)

Roasted Aubergine Chutney

Ingredients

Serves - 4 
Spice Level - Quite Spicy

Japanese Eggplant/Aubergine - 1
Red chilli - 5
Onions - 2 Medium sized chopped roughly
Tamarind - a small lemon sized ball
Urad dal - 2 Tbspn
Curry Leaves - a handful
Jeera - 1 Tbspn
Garlic cloves - 3
Mustard - 1 Tbspn
Shredded coconut - 2 Tbspn
Salt - as per taste
Oil - 3 Tbspn

To temper

Oil - 1 Tbspn
Mustard - 1 TBspn
Urad dal - 1 Tbspn


Method

Apply oil on the eggplant and roast it on open flame for 10-15 minutes until the outer layer shrinks and you are able to peel it easily. I use a steel wire mesh and place it on top of the flame and let the eggplant sit on it easily while roasting.I also used a wooden skewer to insert through the eggplant , so I could rotate the eggplant to make sure it was getting roasted on all sides when put on open flame.

Once roasted well ,drop the eggplant in a bowl containing cold water to cool it. Peel the outer layer of the eggplant completely and cut into medium sized pieces and keep aside.

Heat a pan with 3 Tbsp oil in it. Add mustard seeds, let it splutter, add urad dal and jeera and let it roast.Add the chopped onions and garlic and saute till translucent. Now toss in the roasted eggplant pieces and saute for 5 minutes. Add in the dry red chilli,shredded coconut, tamarind piece and curry leaves and saute for a couple of minutes.Cool and blend into a smooth paste.Transfer this to a serving bowl , add salt and mix well.

In a kadai, heat a tbsp of oil ,add mustard and after it splutters add urad dal and let it roast till golden brown.Pour this over the chutney and mix well.

This chutney goes well with idli/dosai. You can mix this chutney with ghee and rice too or serve as a sandwich spread.



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Authentic ChettinaduTherrakal/Coconut Gravy with brinjal and potato

This is another authentic Chettinadu dish . The coconut based gravy is used as a side dish for dosais and Idlis. It is super yum and this preparation never fails to impress. This curry has been a super hit in all parties that I have hosted until now:).

Therakkal

Ingredients

Brinjal - 2 medium sized, chopped into small pieces
Potato - 1 Medium sized , chopped into small pieces
Tomato - 1 Medium sized, chopped.
Onion - 1 Large , chopped finely
Ginger-garlic paste - 1 Tspn
Curry Leaves - 1 Sprig

To Temper

Mustard - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1 Tbspn

To dry roast and Grind

Mustard - 1 Tbpn
Jeera - 1 Tbpn
Raw Rice - 2 Tbspn
Fenugreek - 1 Tspn
Saunf - 1 Tspn
Khus Khus - 1 Tspn
Dry red chilli - 4
Grated Coconut - 1/2 cup


Method

Heat a pan and dry roast the following - throw in mustard, jeera,raw rice, fenugreek,khus-khus,saunf one after the other. Let them roast for a minute or two.Then add in the grated coconut and dry red chilli. Roast for couple of more minutes and switch off flame. Cool and blend in a mixer with 1/2 cup water to a smooth paste.

Now in the same pan , heat 2 Tbsp of oil. Add mustard and when it splutters, add jeera ,let it roast.Add in the onions,curry leaves and ginger-garlic paste. Saute till onions are translucent.Add the tomatoes and saute till its soft and juicy.Add the brinjal pieces and saute till soft. Now add the ground paste and 1.5 cups of water, and let it boil. When it boils, toss in the potato pieces, and cook till they are half done. Add salt and cook on low flame till the potatoes are fully done and all the flavors in the curry come together. Add more water if you would like to loosen the gravy.

Serve with hot idli, or freshly done dosais. Awesome combination I tell you!.


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Kathirkai Kosmali/Brinjal-Potato stew

Kathirkai kosumali is a very authentic chettinadu dish which best goes as a side dish for idli/idiyappam or dosai's. Its a regular in the breakfast served in our weddings. This is one of my favourite and somehow i dont make it as often as i would like to. I always make this when i have brinjals in excess and need to finish them off.

The dish doesnt look very appealing due to brinjal's color. But looks are definitely deceptive in this case. :)

Kathirkai Kosmali/Brinjal-Potato stew

Ingredients

Serves - 4
Spice Level - Medium

Brinjals - 4 medium sized , each cut into half
Potato - 2 medium sized, peeled and each cut into half
Onion - 1 large , chopped finely
Tomato - 1 medium sized , chopped
Green chilli - 3 slit lengthwise
Garlic cloves - 3 chopped
Thin Tamarind extract - 4-5 Tbspn

Mustard - 1 tspn
Urad dal - 1 tspn
Jeera - 1 tspn
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Hing - a pinch
Oil - 2 Tspn
Salt - as per taste

water - 3 cups


Method

First , pressure cook the brinjals and potatoes together well with 1-1.5 cup water. Now pick the brinjals and potatoes from the cooker and transfer them to a plate. You should be able to easily peel the outer layer of the brinjals. Thow away the peel/outer layer. Mash the brinjals and potatoes with a ladle.No need to mash the potatoes completely, its good to leave a few potato pieces here and there unmashed [Like in the picture above]. Keep this aside.Save the water remaining in the pressure cooker to add into the curry.

Heat oil in a kadai. Add hing, add mustard , let it crackle, add urad dal, jeera,let them roast, add curry leaves. Now throw in the onions, green chillis and garlic coves. Saute till onions are translucent. Now throw in the tomatoes and add little salt. Stir well , close the kadai with the lid. Stir ocassionally,and saute tomatoes till they are soft and let out the juice.Now add in the mashed brinjal-potato mixture mix well, add 2 cups of water,along with the water in which the brinjals and potatoes were cooked. Add more salt and let it boil for a minute or so. Now add the tamrind extract.Let the stew boil in low flame for 5 minutes. switch off stove.

Serve hot with idli/idayappam/dosai. :)

Notes

1. Add more water if you prefer loose curry

2. While adding tamrind extract tbspn by tbspn, make sure to taste in between, so that it doesnt get too tangy. The way i prepare tamrind extract is more diluted than how it is generally prepared. So adjust the quantity of tamarind extract as per your taste.

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