Even the hardcore non-vegetarians will plead for more of this vegetarian delicacy, it’s Yummalicious!
This vegetable ooops I just found that eggplant is actually a fruit but treated as a vegetable. Yay, I learned something new today. This fruit is known in different names: Eggplant in Europe and the US, Brinjal in India, Aubergine or Melangene. It’s also found in different shape, size and color: light purple, dark purple or white. I haven’t tasted the white eggplants yet, but the light purple and the dark purple varieties taste almost the same. In India small light purple varieties are common, but in the US dark purple large eggplants are common and I have even seen long skinny purple varieties in some Asian markets.
I love the soft and mushy constituency of the cooked eggplants. I often grill eggplants, make eggplant rice, often make Kerala style eggplant in coconut curry sauce. Besides these, I haven’t tried anything fancy with them. I was aware that I could make stuffed eggplants, but somehow I kept delaying it. Last weekend, I saw small baby eggplants in an Indian store and couldn’t resist buying them. Making stuffed eggplants had been in my mind ever since I bought them and I finally made it for dinner tonight.
One thing I can say without a second thought is that even the hard core meat eaters will fall for this vegetarian delicacy. It was aromatic, the thick gravy tasted delicious along with the eggplants.
This is an authentic Maharashtrian dish.
Stuffed Eggplants or Bharwan Baingan( Authentic Maharashtrian dish)
Ingredients:
- Baby eggplants or brinjal, whole- 10
For making the Paste:
- Oil- 2 tbsp for sauteing onion+2 tbsp while cooking eggplants
- Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
- Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
- Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
- Onion, diced small- 1
- Garlic, minced- 1 tsp
- Ginger, minced-1 tsp
- Crushed red dried chilies- 1 tsp
- Dried Fenugreek leaves or Kasuri Methi- 1 tbsp
- Tamarind paste- 3 tbsp
- Coconut grated, fresh or frozen- 3/4 cup
- Brown sugar or Jaggery- 2 tsp
- Coriander powder- 2 tsp
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
- Chili powder- 2 tsp or depending upon your spice.
- Garam masala- 1 tsp
- Salt- 1 1/2 tsp
- Water- 2 cups + 1/4 cup
- Cilantro, chopped- 1/4 cup
Instruction:
Tamarind Paste:
- If using fresh tamarind, soak 2-inch slice of fresh tamarind in 1/4 cup warm water for 5 minutes. Squeeze the soaked tamarind using your fingers to extract the juice, strain the juice and keep it aside.
How to make slits on the eggplants:
- Rinse the eggplants under running water and pat dry them.
- Gently trim the green leaves near the stem, keeping the stalk of the stem in place.
- Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the eggplant vertically from the side opposite to the stem until you are about 1/4 inch from the stem.
- Make a cut on the other side too, so that there are 4 slits on the eggplant.
- Be careful not to cut the stem, so that the eggplant will stay in place without falling apart.
Preparation of the stuffing:
- Heat a pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp oil.
- Add cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and fenugreek seeds; saute till the seeds start to turn golden brown (don’t burn them).
- Add onion, and 1 tsp salt; saute till onion turns soft.
- To the onion, add ginger, garlic, crushed red chili flakes, dried fenugreek leaves; saute till everything turns light golden brown.
- Remove the pan from the heat, let cool down.
Making the paste:
- In a food processor, grind together grated coconut, brown sugar or jaggery, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala, tamarind paste, and the sauteed onion along with 1/4 cup water to a thick smooth paste.
- It should be a thick paste, don’t make it into a watery paste.
How to stuff the eggplants:
- Gently, stuff the paste into the slit made on the eggplants.
- While stuffing open the slit gently with your fingers so that the stuffing goes inside and remains intact.
- Don’t open it too wide as it could break apart.
- After stuffing the eggplants, there will be some paste remaining.
- Combine the remaining paste with 2 cups of water and combine well.
Preparation of stuffed eggplant:
- Heat a wide non-stick pan over medium heat and add 2 tbsp oil.
- Place the stuffed eggplants on the oil without crowding them.
- Let the eggplants sizzle for 30 seconds, flip to the other side, and let that side sizzle.
- When the skin of the eggplants turns light brown, pour the paste mixed with water and salt over the eggplants.
- Cook the eggplants covered for about 25 minutes.
- Open the lid and combine everything gently and cook uncovered for 15 minutes.
- At this point, you could pour the thick gravy over the eggplants periodically as it cooks.
- Cook till the eggplants turn soft.
- Garnish with cilantro and combine well.
- Let the gravy thicken and turn slightly browned.
- Remove the pan from the heat and keep it covered for sometime.
Seasoning the stuffed eggplants( Optional)
- Towards the end, I added tadka or tempering to the cooked stuffed eggplants. You could avoid this step if you want. This seasoning will give a nice aroma and extra flavor to this dish.
Ingredients:
- Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
- Whole dried red chilies- 2
- Curry leaves- 1 sprig
- Oil- 1 tbsp
Instruction:
- Heat a small pan, add oil.
- Add mustard seeds and let them splutter.
- Add whole dried red chilies and curry leaves, saute for a few seconds.
- Immediately, pour this over the cooked stuffed eggplants.
- Cover the dish and let stand for 10 minutes so that the flavor will infuse into the eggplants.
- Serve this with rice, naan, or chapatis.
Note: I’ve added light brown sugar that could be the reason my gravy has a light color. If you add jaggery or brown sugar, the gravy will have a dark brown color.
- Baby eggplants or brinjal, whole- 10-12
- Oil- 2 tbsp for sauteing onion+2 tbsp while cooking eggplants
- Cumin seeds- 1 tsp
- Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
- Fenugreek seeds- 1 tsp
- Onion, diced small- 1
- Garlic, minced- 1 tsp
- Ginger, minced-1 tsp
- Crushed red chili flakes- 1 tsp
- Dried Fenugreek leaves or Kasuri Methi- 1 tbsp
- Tamarind paste- 3 tbsp
- Coconut grated, fresh or frozen- ¾ cup
- Brown sugar or Jaggery- 2 tsp
- Coriander powder- 2 tsp
- Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
- Chili powder- 2 tsp or depending upon your spice.
- Garam masala- 1tsp
- Salt- to taste
- Water- 2 cups + ¼ cup
- Cilantro, chopped- ¼ cup
- Mustard seeds- 1 tsp
- Whole dried red chilies- 2
- Curry leaves- 1 sprig
- Oil- 1 tbsp
- If using fresh tamarind, soak 2-inch slice of fresh tamarind in ½ cup warm water for 5 minutes. Squeeze the soaked tamarind using your fingers to extract the juice, strain the juice and keep aside.
- Rinse the eggplants under running water and pat dry them.
- Gently trim the green leaves near the stem, keeping the stalk of the stem in place.
- Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the eggplant vertically from the side opposite to the stem until you are about ¼ inch from the stem.
- Make a cut on the other side too, so that there are 4 slits on the eggplant.
- Be careful not to cut the stem, so that the eggplant will stay in place without falling apart.
- Heat a pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp oil.
- Add cumin seeds, fennel seeds, and fenugreek seeds; saute till the seeds start to turn golden brown (don't burn them).
- Add onion, and 1 tsp salt; saute till onion turns soft.
- To the onion, add ginger, garlic, crushed red chili flakes, dried fenugreek leaves; saute till everything turns light golden brown.
- Remove the pan from the heat, let cool down.
- In a food processor, grind together grated coconut, brown sugar or jaggery, coriander powder, turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala, tamarind paste, and the sauteed onion along with ¼ cup water to a thick smooth paste.
- It should be a thick paste, don't make it into a watery paste.
- Gently, stuff the paste into the slit made on the eggplants.
- While stuffing open the slit gently with your fingers so that the stuffing goes inside and remains intact.
- Don't open it too wide it could break apart.
- After stuffing the eggplants, there will be some paste remaining.
- Combine the remaining paste with 2 cups of water, combine well. Keep it aside.
- Heat a wide non-stick pan over medium heat and add 2 tbsp oil.
- Place the stuffed eggplants on the oil without crowding them.
- Let the eggplants sizzle for 30 seconds, flip to the other side, and let that side sizzle.
- When the skin of the eggplants turns light brown, pour the paste mixed with water and salt over the eggplants.
- Cook the eggplants covered for about 25 minutes.
- Remove the lid and combine everything gently and cook uncovered for 15 minutes.
- At this point, you could pour the thick gravy over the eggplants periodically as it cooks.
- Cook till the eggplants turn soft.
- Garnish with cilantro and combine well.
- Let the gravy thicken and turn slightly browned.
- Remove the pan from the heat and keep it covered for some time.
- Towards the end, I've added tadka or tempering to the cooked stuffed eggplants. You could avoid this step if you want. This seasoning will give a nice aroma and extra flavor to this dish.
- Heat a small pan, add oil.
- Add mustard seeds and let the seeds splutter.
- Add whole dried red chilies and curry leaves; saute for a few seconds.
- Immediately, pour this over the cooked stuffed eggplant.
- Cover the dish and let stand for 10 minutes so that the flavor will infuse into the eggplants.
- Serve this with rice, naan or chapatis.
