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.

Bagara Baingan (Indian eggplant curry)- Hyderabad delicacy

Bagara Baingan is a famous recipe from Hyderabad, where I grew up. It is very popular in weddings served with Hyderabadi Biryani (the eggplants used to float in oil/masala). My mom popularized it amongst our family and it became my signature dish in the US in parties and family gatherings. Recently on a Sunday, my brother (who lives in US) told me that good old Bagara Baingan is for lunch! Found out that Jayashree, my sis-in-law made it (not my mom who is visiting them). So, it truly has become our signature household recipe passing along to next generations. 

The main ingredient in this dish is peanut and small purple baingan (brinjal/small purple, Indian eggplant). Otherwise, it is a mishmash of spices (you name it and it is there in this recipe). The recipe is quite elaborate, but I will try to keep it simple:) I also tried to make it more heart healthy with less oil and more protein (peanuts/dals). You can use Microwave to cook the eggplant and fry them in less oil (similar to what you take for a saute) instead of deep frying them.

Bagara Baingan
Dedicated to my mom, Lakshmi Raman, who taught me how to cook it

Ingredients
1 kg small purple Baingan (Indian eggplant).
6-8 Tbsp refined oil

Preparing the Baingan (Indian eggplant)
Try to pick the smaller eggplants with green stalks (greener the stalks, the fresher the eggplant is). Eggplant is washed and dried with cloth. With a knife, you slit the bottom of the eggplant into 4 quadrants ending the cut at the stalk. You don't cut it completely, you leave it as a whole. Heat oil with 4-6 tbsp of oil and fry the eggplant in oil until completely cooked (crinkled/brown), strain the oil and keep them aside on plate.

Wet Masala
3-4 medium size tomatoes
2 onions coarsely cut
2-3 cloves garlic
2-3 green chillies
1/8 cup grated coconut (you can use fresh coconut)
2 Tbsp Tamarind paste (concentrate)


Grind the tomatoes, onion, garlic, chillies and coconut in a blender until a smooth paste.

3 cups water for cooking dish
1 small bunch of cilantro leaves for garnish
Keep the water for later when you cook the masala.

Dry Masala
1 cup peanuts - roasted
1/4 cup chana dal (yellow split pea)
1/4 cup urad dal (black gram)
1/4 cup coriander seeds
1 tsp asafoetida
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp fenugreek
1 tsp mustard seeds
3-4 cloves
1 small cinnamon stick
2 cardamom clusters (8 small seeds)


1 tbsp poppy seeds
2 tbsp sesame seeds
3-4 red chilli

Directions
Heat 1 tsp oil. I will now give you the sequence of roasting. keep them aside after they are completely roasted. The sequence is 1. Peanuts, 2. Dals, 3. Coriander+Red chilli 4. Mustard, fenugreek, cumin, sesame seeds, cloves, cinnamon, poppy seeds, cardamom, asafoetida. Let all the spices cool down and then grind them into a semi-coarse to fine powder.

Preparation of dish

Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a heavy pan, and add the wet masala and turmeric, salt. Let it cook so that the green flavor is removed and the masala starts to boil. Keep a lid on top as the masala will get to sputter all over once it starts boiling. Add the 2 cups of water and let it cook in low heat until the oil oozes out of the masala (this is the sign that the masala is well cooked).

Now add the dry masala, add the extra one cup of water and let it cook well for 5 min in low heat until the dals are fully cooked and the oil comes out. Add the fried Baigan at the end and let it all cook for another 5-10 min. You can add more water or salt as needed so the masala is not dried out. You need to give it a good gravy consistency. Cook it in low heat with a lid on. Garnish on top with Coriander leaves.

It is served best with Hyderabadi Biryani, however it usually goes well with Chapathi/Roti or plain white rice. My husband and children all love it, the sign of this is that there are no left overs!

Bon Appetite!

Spicy Eggplant Stew

Need something quick to make as a side dish? Well, here is a recipe that has the Italian flavor (of course we need to add garlic) and is good addition to a meal.

Spicy Eggplant Stew - The Little Big Vegetarian Book - Page 454
1 kg Eggplant cut into big chunks
500 g tomatoes - coarsely chopped
5 tbsp extra virgin oil
4 cloves garlic - finely chopped
1 tbsp sweet paprika (can substitute with red hot chilli powder)
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground black pepper,
1 lemon (juice) and salt to taste


Steam the eggplants over large pot of boiling water for 20 min, until tender. Alternatively, you could cook the eggplants with the tomatoes so you retain the nutrient that is lost in water.

Cook the tomatoes with the oil, garlic, paprika, cumin and pepper in saucepan over medium heat for 20 min. Season with salt (add the egg plants with tomatoes - alternative), Cook for 15-20 min until all vegetables are tender. Drizzle with lemon juice and oil and serve hot with Rice.