BRINJAL MASALA CURRY

It’s one of the traditional recipes of South India, especially in Tamil Nadu and Chettinadu cuisines. It’s nothing but, the shallow fried baby brinjals cooked in tangy tamarind and ground coconut sauce.

INGREDIENTS :

• Small Brinjals – 10 nos
• Tamarind – 1 lemon sized

• Channa Dal – 2 tbsp
• Coconut, grated – 3 tbsp

• Oil – 3 to 4 tbsp
• Mustard Seeds – ½ tsp
• Fenugreek – ½ tsp
• Dry red Chilly – 2 nos
• Asafoetida Powder – a pinch
• Curry leaves – few
• Green Chilly – 2 nos, slit
• Sahallots – 10 to 12 nos, peeled and cleaned
• Drumstick – 1 nos, cut into 2 to 3 inches size

• Red Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
• Sambar Masala Powder – 1 tsp
• Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
• Garam Masala Powder – ½ tsp

• Salt – to taste

METHOD OF COOKING :

• Soak the tamarind in about 1 cup water for 10 to 15 minutes. Extract the tamarind juice using a strainer and discard its pulp.
Wash the baby brinjals and make 4 slits on its top, keep the stem intact.
• Heat a non-stick pan and dry roast the channa dal and grated coconut for few seconds and remove from the heat. Grind this mixture to a fine paste using a mixture grinder and keep aside.
• Heat oil in the same pan again and splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves, dry red chilly, green chilly, fenugreek seeds, asafetida powder and saute for few seconds.
• Add shallots, brinjals. drumsticks and saute well until shallots turn translucent and the brinjals get shrink to its half size.
• Add turmeric powder, red chilly powder, sambar masala powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder and saute well for few seconds.
• Add little water, ground coconut paste, salt and cook for 10 minutes on low flame.
• When the brinjals are almost cooked, add tamarind juice and continue cooking for few more minutes on medium flame until the gravy thickens slightly and the oil floats on the top.
• Remove from the heat and serve hot with steamed white rice.