Spicy stuffed brinjal fry/Eggplant masala/Aberguine fry

Stuffed tiny eggplant fry

Brinjal/Eggplant/Aberguine is a purple skinned vegetable least favoured at home. All I like about it, is its colour! My mother rarely cooked brinjals. I remember throwing out brinjal pieces from sambar once and feeding a crow, sadly I have not seen the crow again! Come on, when a food is purple, it is probably poisonous! So, now you know my negativity towards brinjals.

My occasional exploits with this vegetable were disgusting because brinjal changes into a dull colour when cooked and looks unappealing. Recently, when I saw these tiny rounded brinjals, I gathered courage and bought them with the intention of cooking them like Asha’s brinjal fry. I developed an interest in these purple babies after reading her post. But somewhere I got a brain wave and the plan of action changed.

I remembered there was one instance I tasted stuffed brinjal fry at a friend’s house and considered it palatable. I thought it would be good to try that, as I wanted to take one step at a time to explore brinjals. To my complete surprise this stuffed brinjal fry was welcomed with an enthusiasm I did not really expect. So I decided to post it here.

Ingredients

• 10 -15 small rounded Indian Brinjals
• 1/4 cup sesame oil

Stuffing

• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp channa dhal (chick pea)
• 1 tbsp urad dhal
• 8-10 peanuts

Roast all the above ingredients and powder, then mix it with

• 1 tsp red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper powder
• 1/4 tsp asofoetida powder
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• salt

1. Wash Brinjals and slit them into four without removing the stalk and the green calyx.
2. Mix all the stuffing ingredients.
3. Wet the inside of a brinjal and fill it with the stuffing. Repeat it with all the brinjals.
4. Heat sesame oil in a pan and add all the stuffed brinjals.
5. Sprinkle some water and cover the pan with its lid allowing brinjals to cook on medium heat.
6. Turn the vegetable to cook on all sides sprinkling water to moisten it.
7. Brinjals change colour, soften and shrivel on cooking.
8. Serve it with hot rice and curry as an additional side dish.

Soft and mushy inside, with the spices to enhance the taste – it was outstanding! The stalk stays as a handle to hold it while cooking and eating. After cooking this I have changed my opinion about this humble vegetable. I will try Asha’s recipe soon. Brinjal is getting a new lease of life in my kitchen! Go Brinjal, go!