Stuffed Brinjal

The one big food related plus of having time on my hands, which was a scarce commodity barely two months ago, is being able to make dishes that require a little more time than others. It helps also to live in a city where many ingredients are easy to come by. For instance, I found this bag of almost identical sized baby brinjals   when we went grocery shopping. I bought the bag immediately, wanting to make Ennai Katrikkai. But I was missing a crucial ingredient. I decided to make this dish instead.

This dish is not a family recipe or anything like that. We had a lady working for us many years ago. One day, she asked Amma if she can make a side dish to go with chapatis. Amma agreed. She made this and all of us really liked it. It featured regularly on our menu for several years. I'd forgotten about this dish and made it just once earlier after Amma reminded me about 1-2 years ago. I made it again last week and it was gone before we knew it.

1/4 kg Baby Brinjals, slit crosswise with stems intact

2 Onions, finely chopped

2 tbsp Coconut, scraped

2 Cloves Garlic

1" piece of Ginger

1/4 cup Coriander Leaves, chopped

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1 tsp Chilli Powder

1/4 tsp Garam Masala

1/4 cup Roasted Peanuts, coarsely crushed

Salt to taste

1 tbsp Oil

For the tempering

1 tsp Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Heat the tablespoon of oil and add the onions. Fry for about 3-4 minutes and add the coconut. Fry until the coconut turns brown. Grind this mixture with the garlic, ginger, and coriander leaves. Mix the turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala, and salt into this paste along with the crushed peanuts.

Stuff this mixture into the slit brinjals.

Heat the teaspoon of oil in a kadhai/pan. Add the mustard. When the mustard splutters, the asafoetida and the curry leaves. Add the stuffed brinjals and cover and cook for 5-7 minutes or until the brinjals are cooked. Uncover and cook for a minute or two.

Serve hot with chapatis or with some rice and dal. I could just eat this on its own. I also realized that this dish doesn't take as long to prepare as I'd imagined. Agreed that it has more steps than a simpler side dish, but it is in no way complicated.

Cocktail Pizza (and more plagiarism)

Snacks and healthy. I wonder if the two words go together. Most snacks tend to be fried and I've tried baking instead of frying. It works often, not always.

I came across these eggplant pizzas somewhere on the web and thought that the idea was fantastic. I didn't bookmark it and recreated it at home from memory. Later, when I found the recipe again, it turned out I had followed it to a great extent.


Recipe (adapted from here)


1 large Brinjal, sliced into discs
3/4 cup Pasta Sauce
1/4 cup Cheese, grated
2 tbsp Olive Oil


Brush the brinjal slices with some olive oil and roast in a hot oven (400F) for 5 minutes on each side.


Spread a little pasta sauce on each slice and sprinkle with some grated cheese.


Return to the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cheese is bubbly.


Serve as a snack with tea or as a starter with drinks. This dish will have everyone (all brinjal lovers) asking for more.


I just came to know that this blogger called Nisha Yadav, who blogs at http://esyrecipes.blogspot.com/, has copied some of my recipes word for word, along with the pictures. A friend pointed out that my recipe for Vegetable Dalia Upma (http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2009/02/vegetable-dalia-upma.html) was copied by her here (http://esyrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/01/vegetable-dalia-upma.html). When I browsed through her blog, I found another recipe of mine, Mixed Vegetable Poha (http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2008/01/mixed-vegetable-poha.html) copied on her blog (http://esyrecipes.blogspot.com/2010/01/mixed-vegetable-poha.html). I also found several posts picked straight off Anusha Raji's blog, Talimpu.


I think all her recipes are lifted from somewhere. I have left a comment on the blog posts and I hope she removes the content. Please do check her blog out and see if you find any more copied recipes.

Baingan Bharta

I didn't always like the taste of smoked brinjals. I love brinjals otherwise, but this one method of cooking was never a favourite. If Amma wanted to make thogayal/thuvayal, she would steam the brinjals in the cooker. Now, I have come to appreciate the flavour a lot more. When Amma was here sometime back, she made this Baingan Bharta. Even my Punjabi colleagues said it was to die for.

1 large Brinjal, roasted on an open flame

1 Onion, chopped finely
1 Tomato, chopped finely
1 tsp Ginger Paste
1 tsp Chilli Powder
1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder
1/2 tsp Coriander Powder
1/4 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp Oil
Salt to taste

Place the roasted brinjal in a bowl of water. Remove the charred skin and keep the brinjal aside. Mash the cooked brinjal a little.

Heat the oil in a kadhai. Add the onions and fry for a couple of minutes. Add the ginger paste along with the turmeric, coriander and chilli powders. Add the salt and the tomato and fry for 3-4 minutes. Add the mashed brinjal and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add the garam masala and garnish with some chopped coriander if you like. Serve hot with chapatis/phulkas.

Katrikkai Thuvayal

Smoked brinjal. Something I really detested while growing up. Amma didn't make bharta back then, but she did make this thuvayal/thogayal every once in a while. Later, she learnt that one could steam the brinjal in the cooker and started making it that way. I could more than tolerate that as it didn't have the "smokey" flavour. I even remember her using the microwave to roast the brinjal, but she says she hasn't tried. I insist that she did. (I've lived away for so long now that at times I met my other relatives almost as often as I met my parents. So, maybe she is right after all.)

This thuvayal is a favourite of many and S tells me that this is made in Andhra Pradesh as well. So, it is one dish that is common to both households. I have, of late, started to enjoy the flavour. Maybe it is all the bharta that I get to eat at work (at home too!) or maybe my tastes have simply evolved over time.

1 Large Brinjal
4 Red Chillies
1 tsp Mustard
3 tsp Urad Dal
1/4 tsp Asafoetida
3 tsp Oil
1 tbsp Tamarind Paste
Salt to taste

Oil to brush the brinjal

Brush the brinjal with a little oil. Roast the entire brinjal on an open flame. Turn it around until the entire brinjal is roasted and the skin is evenly black and the brinjal is cooked. (You could use a skewer for this.)

Place the brinjal in a bowl of water. Cool and remove the skin.

Heat the oil in a kadhai and fry the red chillies, mustard, asafoetida and urad dal for a couple of minutes. Grind the chillies along with the tamarind paste and salt. Add the brinjal and grind again. Finally, add the fried mustard and urad dal and grind lightly.

As a variation to this, you could substitute the red chillies with an equal number of green chillies (more or less, depending on your taste). Back home, that's how Amma makes it.


While this is great with some rice and papads, it makes a great chutney to go with idlis and dosas. Especially, if you, like me, are trying to reduce your dependence on coconut for chutneys.

Katrikkai Gojju

In an earlier post, I spoke about the best way to eat Pongal. When Amma was here, I put in my request for Pongal and Katrikkai Gojju. She made it for breakfast one Monday morning. What a way to start the week! This has to be the best accompaniment to the otherwise bland Pongal. And considering I couldn't look at Pongal, let alone relish it, before I discovered Gojju, I don't think this dish needs more marketing.

Ingredients:

1/4 kg Brinjal, chopped

1/3 cup Toor Dal

1/3 cup Chana Dal

1 tbsp Jaggery

Salt to Taste

4 tbsp Tamarind Paste

For the masala:
1/2 tsp Oil

1 tbsp Urad Dal

1 tsp Asafoetida

3 Red Chillies

1 tbsp Coriander Seeds

1 tbsp Chana Dal

1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds

1 tbsp Cumin Seeds

1/2 tbsp Peppercorns
2 tbsp Scraped Coconut

For the tempering:

1 tsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

1/4 tsp Fenugreek Seeds

1 Red Chilli

Cook the dals in a pressure cooker with 2 cups water.

Heat the 1/2 tsp oil in a small kadhai. Add all the ingredients for the masala except the coconut. Roast for 4-5 minutes on a low flame. Add the coconut and fry for another minute. Grind to a fine paste.

Heat oil in a vessel. Add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard splutters, add the curry leaves, fenugreek seeds, red chilli and fry for a minute. Add the brinjal pieces and fry for a couple of minutes more. Add the tamarind paste and salt and bring the mixture to a boil. Add the ground masala, the cooked dal and jaggery and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

Enjoy a hearty serving of this gojju with some steaming hot Pongal. That's a plateful of protein goodness.

Off this goes to my dear friend Divya as she hosts this month's edition of Think Spice... Think Pepper.

Bhulbhulavani

Everyone knows how much I love brinjal. I am always on the lookout for new recipes that I can try out with these little purple beauties. I made this dish many months ago and saved the post for the RCI. This isn't a dish that Amma made. She made it for the first time after I told her about it. I adapted this recipe from Rasachandrika, my konkani cooking encyclopaedia. My maid and my mother-in-law were very skeptical when I started cooking this. They couldn't imagine how a dish could be made without turmeric. I was following a recipe. Modifying it, no doubt, but following it all the same.

1/2 kg Brinjals, finely chopped

2 Onions, finely chopped

2-3 Red Chillies

1/2 tsp Coriander Seeds

2-3 Cloves

1" piece of Cinnamon

2-3 tbsp Coconut, scraped

3-4 tbsp Coriander Leaves, chopped

3-4 Garlic cloves

2 tbsp Oil

Salt to taste

Dip the brinjal pieces in water for 10 minutes and drain. Add salt to the pieces and keep aside.

Heat about 2 teaspoons of oil and fry the chillies, coriander seeds, cloves and cinnamon. Grind together to a fine paste this mixture with the coconut and garlic.

Heat the remaining oil and fry the onions. Add the brinjal pieces and fry for about 2 minutes. Add the ground masala and mix it well. Cook till the brinjals are done. Add the chopped coriander leaves.

We had them with wheat rotis for lunch and with Rice Rotis for dinner. I haven't made it again since only because I have been trying out other dishes with brinjal. But the recipe is a keeper.

Off this goes to Deepa's RCI: Konkani Cuisine.

Masala Tendli-Vangi Bhat

I can eat any amount of Brinjal. And I think I can safely say that S can eat any amount of Ivy Gourd(Tendli/Dondekai/Kovakkai/Kundru). Fortunately, it is not as though we dislike what the other adores. And this recipe is a perfect lunchbox item for the two of us. Little treats for both of us, and just one item to make and pack.

I don't even remember where I got this recipe from. I've been making this in summer as it is a nice variation from the usual roti-sabzi routine.

1 cup Basmati Rice, washed and soaked

1/2 cup Brinjal, diced

1/2 cup Ivy Gourd, sliced

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

1/2 tsp Ginger Paste

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/2 tsp Cumin Seeds

2 Medium Onions, chopped

1 tsp Green Chilli Paste

1 tsp Oil

1 tsp Cumin Coriander Powder

1/2 tsp Pepper

1/4 tsp Clove Powder

Salt to taste

Heat oil in a pressure pan and add the asafotida, ginger paste, turmeric powder and cumin seeds. When the cumin sees crackle, add the onions and green chilli paste and fry for 4-5 minutes. Add the ivy gourd and the brinjal pieces. Drain the rice and add this to the vegetable mixture. Add the cumin coriander powder, pepper and the clove powder along with the salt. Add 2 cups of hot water and pressure cook for 10 minutes or 3 whistles.

Serve with some curd or raita on the side.

This makes for a great Sunday lunch too. Not too much effort, but a great resultant dish. What more can one ask for?

Whole Wheat Calzones

I love pizzas. I mean really really love them. But in all the years that I lived alone, I probably ordered pizzas about 5 times. That’s like once in 2 years. Since the time I got married, we’ve ordered pizza exactly once. The day we shifted into the apartment we currently occupy. For some reason, I have never quite liked getting food home. For starters, there’s the minimum order quantity. This means that, in all likelihood, we’ll have leftovers. Then there’s the problem of rotis applying for jobs at GoodYear or MRF. There’s also the problem of transferring food to the right utensils, heating it up, bringing out the plates and cleaning up after the meal. Given the trouble involved, if I don’t feel like cooking, I’d much rather just go out and eat. Somehow, even the hottest freshest pizza goes cold in the 30 minute trip to your doorstep.


How do I tackle my craving for this Italian creation? Earlier, I did this by making enough visits to Amma’s. Now I do so by making it at home. Turning the all flour version to the whole wheat version was one step towards making my favourite food healthier. Making this folded pizza was the next step. I made do with just 5 grams of cheese powder as opposed to the 100 grams that I normally use in an open pizza.

For the dough:

1 cup Wheat Flour
½ cup Flour
1 tbsp Yeast
1/8 cup Oil
1/2 tbsp Sugar
3/4 tsp Salt1 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tbsp Garlic, chopped
1 tbsp Mixed Herbs
1/4 cup Water, boiling
1/4 cup Milk

For the sauce:

1 Onion, sliced
1 medium Tomato, chopped finely
1 Capsicum, sliced (I used small portions of green, red and yellow capsicum)
2 tsp Chilli Flakes
1/8 cup Broccoli, cut
1/8 cup Sweet Corn

1/8 cup Brinjal, chopped
6 Button Mushrooms, chopped
3 tbsp Spinach, chopped
3 pods Garlic, finely chopped
1 tbsp Cheese Powder
1 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Fresh Parsley, finely chopped
1 tsp Fresh Basil, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/2 tsp Olive Oil
Salt to Taste

For the dough:

Take a huge mixing bowl and place the oil, salt and sugar in it. Add boiling water and mix until the sugar dissolves. Add the milk now to bring the mixture to room temperature. Add the yeast and mix well. Add the chilli flakes, garlic, and herbs. Add the wheat flour and flour and knead into a dough. Place the dough in a greased vessel and cover it with a damp muslin cloth. Allow to rise until double in size (roughly 45-50 minutes).

For the sauce:

In a pan, heat the oil and add the garlic and onions. Fry for a minute or two. Add the capsicum, corn, brinjal, mushroom, spinach and broccoli and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the parsley, basil, oregano, chilli flakes, cheese powder, salt, sugar and pepper and fry for another minute. Add the tomato and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the ketchup and cook the mixture for a couple of minutes. This mixture should be much drier than pizza sauce.

To Proceed:

Grease a pizza plate.Divide the dough into 4 equal portions. Spread each portion into a circle on a greased plate. Place a little sauce on one side of the dough and fold the dough over. Seal the edges and press down using a fork. Make slits on top.

Bake in a hot oven (400 F) for 20 minutes.This is so easy to make that I wonder why I didn’t try this earlier. It tasted great at dinner time and was just as good the next day at lunch too. It would be great to take on a picnic or during travel.

This one dish meal goes to Meeta for her Monthly Mingle. The theme this month is One-Dish Dinners. Other one dish meals at The Singing Chef can be found here.

Chow Chow

Every cuisine probably has at least one dish that helps people use up leftover vegetables. Avial is the first thing that comes to mind. Chitrapur Saraswat cuisine is no different.

Chow chow: it means different things to different people. In Bangalore, you get Chow Chow Bhat. It is a serving of upma and kesari on a plate and is immensely popular as a breakfast item at the numerous Darshinis across the city.

Chow chow is the other name for the Chayote Squash. Also known as Marokkai, Bengaloor Katrikkai or Vilayat Vaingan.

Chow chow to me means all of these and more. How much more? Read on and you'll find out.

This is also what it means to me: A mixed vegetable dish with a pickle gravy. The masala is the same one that is used in amchi pickles. So, this is one of those fiery dishes. And to add more tingle to your already tingling taste buds, actual pickle is added to this dish. When you have leftover pickle, mostly gravy and all pieces gone, you add some water and wash the bottle and add all that to the dish. Can you believe that?

I asked Amma why this recipe, which is a regular feature in most amchi homes, is not featured in Rasachandrika, the popular amchi cookbook. She told me that it wasn't that old a dish. Apparently, a well known cook/chef/caterer created this at a wedding and it became an instant hit. (I am sure even he had leftover vegetables he had no clue what to do with!)

Ingredients:

2 Potatoes, boiled, peeled and cubed

2 small Carrots, cut into 2" long pieces

100g Beans, cut into 2" long pieces

6 medium Brinjals, quartered lengthwise

2 tbsp Tamarind Paste

2 tbsp Red Pickle Gravy (optional)

For the masala:

1 tsp Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/2" piece Asafoetida (or 1/2 tsp Asafoetida Powder)

1 tsp Pepper

1 tsp Fenugreek Seeds

3-4 Red Chillies

3 tbsp Coriander Seeds

1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder

1/4 cup Coconut, scraped

Salt to taste

For the tempering:

1 tbsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Cook the carrot and beans in a pressure cooker.

In a small kadhai, heat 1 tsp of oil and add the mustard seeds, asafoetida, pepper, fenugreek seeds, red chillies and coriander seeds. Roast these ingredients for a few minutes. Cool and grind together with the coconut and turmeric powder.

In a larger kadhai, heat 1 tbsp of oil. Add the ingredients for the tempering. When the mustard splutters, add the brinjal pieces and fry well. Add the tamarind paste and salt. Cover and cook for a few minutes till the brinjal becomes soft. Add the potatoes, carrots and beans along with the ground masala to the brinjals. Add the pickle gravy now, if using.

Cover and cook for 4-5 minutes. Serve with chapatis or rice and dali saar. I enjoyed it with rice rotis as well.

This is a super hit with anyone who has eaten it. My friend was visiting when this was made and she took a box back home. Apparently, it was not just she who'd fallen in love with the dish. Her folks at home loved it too and at her request comes this much loved amchigele recipe. Bee: this one is for you too. I hope you enjoy this.

And last, but not least in any way, this is also for dearest Asha as yet another entry for the RCI Karnataka event.

Katrikkai Karumadhu (Brinjal Curry)

This is one of my favourite ways of eating brinjal. Actually, any way of eating brinjal is a favourite. I don't like the bharta kind of smoked brinjal varieties and I eat brinjal pachadi that is made by steaming the brinjal rather than roasting.

This recipe has been handed over from my grandmother to my mother and of course from Amma to me. Anyone who eats Amma's Iyengar cooking would never know that she doesn't have Iyengar roots. I just got back from Madras after spending 3 days at home. I had a feast. Most of the stuff that I ate while at home will feature here over the coming weeks. The focus of this weekend was Iyengar over Saraswat. Moreover, I attended a wedding of two close friends and Pattappa, the caterer who took care of my wedding, was in charge of the food there as well. So, I just feasted on yummy food all the way.

Ingredients:

1/2 kilo brinjals, cut into small pieces

To be ground to a masala:

1/4 cup Coconut, scraped

2 tbsp Tamarind Paste

2-3 Red Chillies

1/4 tsp Turmeric Powder

Salt to Taste

For the seasoning:

1 tbsp Oil

1/4 tsp Mustard Seeds

1/4 tsp Asafoetida

7-8 Curry Leaves

Heat the oil in a kadhai and add the mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard seeds begin to splutter, add the curry leaves. Add the brinjal pieces and fry them for 3-4 minutes. Add the ground masala and cover and cook for 4-5 minutes more.

I eat this curry with plain rice (quick substitute for vangi bhat). I also enjoy this with rice and sambar, rice and rasam, and rice and mor kuzhambu.

Incidentally, this month's JFI by Sangeeta of Ghar ka Khana features Brinjal! So this would be my second entry to this event.

Vangi Bhat (Brinjal Rice)

Some people love it, some people hate it. I have yet to come across someone who is neutral towards this vegetable. Brinjal, aubergine, eggplant, katrikkai, vaingan, vankaya, baingan… call it whatever you please, this vegetable evokes different emotions in different people. All the way from yuck to yum.

I fit beautifully into the “yum” category. Sadly though, I have to restrict my intake of brinjal as I have found it increases my acidity. I love it in any form. The plain brinjal curry, yennai katrikkai (stuffed brinjal), katrikkai sambar, pachadi etc. I don’t particularly care for the bharta type of dishes that call for smoked brinjals. Even the pachadi is made differently at our place.

Yennai katrikkai is an all time favourite and I had it served at my wedding last year too. But the one dish that I absolutely love and can eat as much of is Vangi Bhat. I am not sure of the origin of this dish. Native to Karnataka and Maharashtra, it is made differently in different households.

V is for Vangi Bhat and this is my entry to Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables

Since this dish is also made in Maharashtra as much as it is in Karnataka, I am sending this to Nupur for the RCI: Maharastrian Cuisine event.

Incidentally, this month's JFI by Sangeeta of Ghar ka Khana features Brinjal! So this would be entry to this event too.

Amma prepares Vangi Bhat powder for me so I don’t have to grind the masala in the morning when I’m usually in a hurry. The “real” Vangi Bhat is prepared this way at my place:

Ingredients:
¼ kilo brinjal, chopped into quarters

Rice:
1 cup Basmati Rice
¼ tsp Turmeric
½ tsp Oil
1 tsp Salt

Masala:
2 tbsp Coriander Seeds
¼ cup Coconut, scraped
2-3 Cloves
2-3” stick of Cinnamon
2-3 Red Chillies
2 tbsp Tamarind Paste
Salt to taste
1 tsp Oil

Tempering:
1 tbsp Oil
1 tsp Mustard Seeds
¼ tsp Asafoetida
8-10 Curry Leaves
Coriander Leaves for the garnish

Heat the oil and roast the coriander seeds for 2-3 minutes. Add the chillies, cloves, cinnamon and coconut and roast for a little longer. Grind this mixture to a paste adding the tamarind paste and salt.

Add 2 cups of water and cook the rice in a pressure cooker with the oil, turmeric and salt.

In a pressure pan, heat the oil for the tempering, add the mustard seeds and the asafetida. When the mustard seeds splutter, add the curry leaves and the brinjal pieces. Fry for a couple of minutes. Add the ground masala and fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the cooked rice along with salt and mix thoroughly. Cover and cook on a low flame for 2-3 minutes.

Alternatively, you can add raw rice to the brinjal masala mixture and add the water and cook directly in a pressure pan for 2-3 whistles. That's how I made the rice that's in the picture above.

Garnish with coriander leaves and enjoy it with cucumber raita.