Kathrikkai Thogayal, Eggplant (Brinjal) Chutney

          After all the sweets and snacks for Diwali, now we are back to some healthy day to day food, today's post is a simple and tasty thogayal/chutney with brinjals, Kathrikkai Thogayal. Thogayal is slightly thicker than a chutney and we have it mixed with some rice, but, of course we can also eat it with idlis and dosas. We can use the big eggplant for doing this, but that day, I had these medium sized eggplants and I made the thogayal with it. To give some taste and texture to the thogayal, I have added some roasted lentils/dal and coconut. The thogayal tastes very good when mixed with white rice and ghee or oil..

Need To Have

• Kathrikkai/Eggplant - 2 medium sized ones
• Urad Dal/Husked Black Gram - 2 teaspoons
• Mustard Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
• Chana Dal/Bengal Gram - 1 teaspoon
• Dried Red Chillies - 2
• Asafoetida - 1/8 teaspoon
• Curry Leaves - 10
• Grated Coconut - 1 tablespoons
• Tamarind - blueberry sized ball
• Salt to taste

Method

          Wash and roast the eggplants on direct flame till the outer skin is charred and the eggplants are cooked, do it on low heat.

          Put the roasted eggplants in water, when it's cold enough to handle, peel the outer skin and keep.

          Heat a little oil, add the mustard seeds, urad dal and chana dal and roast, once the mustard seeds start sputtering, add the dried red chillies, asafoetida and curry leaves, mix and remove.

          Let this cool a little, then grind it with the tamarind, grated coconut and salt, without adding water.

          This will be a coarse mixture, to this, mash the eggplants, add it and blend a couple of times and remove.

Note
Roast the eggplants on low heat, otherwise the outer skin will be charred but the inside part will not be cooked.
If you don't like the smoky flavor from roasting the brinjals on direct flame, then chop the brinjals, heat some oil, add the brinjal, saute, cover and cook till done, then add it to the powdered ingredients and blend.