I found these cute little purple brinjals lying around in my refrigerator today and wanted to fix up a quick and easy gravy dish. I happened to taste this recipe at a friends house last week and liked it very much that I decided to put this up in my blog for my dear readers. The good part is you can use any vegetable of your choice to make this dish, be it potatoes, capsicum (green peppers), cauliflower …the rest I’ll leave for your imagination. Lets take a peek at the recipe.
 Ingredients:
10 Brinjals ( I used the purple ones) – cut into halves and soaked in salt water
¼ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp turmeric powder
4 medium onions chopped (makes about 2 cups of chopped)
8 to 10Â Green chillies (adjust)
2 tsps freshly grated coconutÂ
1 tsp coriander powder
4 tbsps cooking oil
For popu/tadka
1 tsp avalu (mustard seeds)
½ tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
8 to 10 curry leaves
1 tsp cooking oil
How to:
- Heat 2 tbsps of oil in a pan and throw in the cumin seeds. Let them crackle, then add chopped onions, green chillies, salt and turmeric. Cook on medium flame till the onions turn soft and pink in color. Turn off the flame. Allow to cool. Grind along with coriander powder and freshly grated coconut.
- Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsps of oil in a vessel, and on medium flame fry the brinjals stirring occassionaly till soft but not mushy and the edges start turning golden brown. Set aside (If you feel brinjals might take time to cook, parboil them in water for a while)
- Add the ground paste to the fried brinjals, and gently mix in with ¼ cup of water. Let it cook on medium flame till the desired gravy consistency is reached. Adjust salt.
- While the gravy cooks, take a pan, heat 1 tsp of oil, and fry avalu, jeera, curry leaves for few seconds till they crackle. Add this to the gravy and stir gently.
- Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed rice/rotis