Guthi Vankai Koora - Andhra style stuffed brinjal

It has been a while since I blogged - reasons are many - sick, travel, too many other priorities.. but none justified for long absence.. so here I am back on track to start sharing my cooking..

Today I am going to share with you a favorite Brinjal dish I learnt from my telugu friend Jyotsna. It is stuffed Brinjal with spicy mix. However I tried this out without stuffing the masala in the Brinjal.

Guthi Vankai Koora - Stuffed Brinjal

Ingredients
Brinjal - Small Indian style - 1 kg

Peanuts - 1 cup
Bengal Gram (chana dal) - 1/2 cup
Black Gram (Urad dal) - 1/2 cup
Coriander seeds - 1/4 cup
Coconut (optional) - 1/4 cup
Red chillies - 4-5
Salt to taste
Turmeric - 1 tsp
Asafoetida - 1/2 tsp
4-5 Tbsp
MusTa tard Seeds - 1tsp
Curry leamarind paste - 2 Tbsp
Oil -ves - 6-7
Coriander leaves - to garnish

Dry Masala
Dry fry the Bengal gram, Black gram, coriander seeds, red chillies and peanuts and grind them together with salt, asafoetida. Mix the masala with 1 tbsp of tamarind paste. Keep it aside for stuffing the brinjal (Method 1) or to add in the dish (Method 2).
 
Directions
You can do this dish two different ways - stuffed masala or non-stuffed. It is the taste of the masala (groundnut based) that is key signature for this dish. The second method is easier and less time consuming and gives the same taste and flavor as in Method 1. Both deliver same taste to the dish.

Method 1
Slit the brinjal into 4 pieces without cutting the vegetable completely so it is like a opened flower. Fill in the masala inside the brinjal and tie it up with a thread. Take oil in a pan, add mustard seeds and once it sputters, you add curry leaves and turmeric, add the Brinjal (stuffed). Mix the 1 tbsp of tamarind paste in 1/2 cup of water along with salt and sprinkle the tamarind water+salt on top of the brinjal and cover the pan. Let the brinjal cook in low heat for 20 min with occasional mixing. Once the brinjal is cooked, garnish with coriander leaves and the dish is ready to serve with hot rice or chapathi.

Method 2
Slit the brinjal into 4 pieces without cutting the vegetable completely so it is like a opened flower. Shallow fry the Brinjal until well cooked and keep it aside.  Take oil in pan (1 Tbsp), add mustard seeds and once it sputters, you add curry leaves and turmeric, add the Brinjal (fried and cooked in oil), add the dry masala and the remaining tamarind paste, salt and mix well. Let the brinjal cook in low heat for 20 min with occasional mixing. Once the brinjal is cooked, garnish with coriander leaves and the dish is ready to serve with hot rice or chapathi.