Eggplant Roast, Brinjal Roast

          After making some Kerala and Karnataka dishes, I realized I haven't tried the Andhra cuisine that much, of course I have made a few dishes like the Pesarattu and Stuffed Eggplants but none from their day to day cooking. Today's dish is a simple Eggplant/Brinjal Roast and when I say simple, it's really that, just a handful of ingredients and no special masalas or anything. I found this recipe in the cookbook, 'Cooking with Pedatha', and in fact even while cooking I had doubts about how it would taste with such few ingredients. But then, it turned out really good, spicy and tasty and went very well with rice and dal..

Need To Have

• Eggplants/Brinjal/Kathirikkai - 8 medium sized purple ones, quartered
• Mustard Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
• Urad Dal/Husked Black Gram - 1 teaspoon
• Asafoetida - 1/4 teaspoon
• Turmeric Powder - 1/4 teaspoon
• Red Chilly Powder - 2 teaspoons
• Curry Leaves - 10 - 15
• Salt to taste

Method

          Slice the brinjals and keep them immersed in water till you make the dish. Heat some oil, add the mustard seeds and urad dal, when it starts sputtering, add the asafoetida, curry leaves, reduce the heat and add the turmeric powder. Mix and immediately add the sliced eggplants, mix, cover and cook on low heat till the vegetable is cooked.

          Then add the chilly powder and salt, mix and keep cooking on low heat without lid, till it becomes well roasted, for about 7 to 10 minutes. Remove and serve it warm.

Note
You can soak the brinjals in salt water for 10 to 15 minutes and then proceed with the dish, the removes any bitterness in the brinjal.
Be careful not to burn the turmeric powder.