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..

Litti Chokha, How To Make Bihari Litti Chokha

          Litti Chokha is going to be our dish today, it's a regional dish from the state of Bihar. I came across this dish when browsing the web for some recipes using  sattu flour ( roasted chickpeas flour ). Litti is baked whole wheat balls which is stuffed with a mixture of sattu flour and it is served with a mashed side dish of roasted eggplant, tomatoes and boiled potatoes which is called as Chokha. It's a little lengthy process, but if you plan it properly, you can make them side by side. Try it on a weekend for brunch or lunch and serve it along with some Masala Chaas (spiced buttermilk ) for a complete and delicious meal..

Begun Bhaja, Baingan Bhaja, Bengali Style Eggplant Fry

          Begun Bhaja, Baingan Bhaja, another dish that I had tried from the Bengali cuisine, some time back. It's a simple and tasty dish, we use the big eggplants for this, the slices are marinated in spice powders, dusted with some rice flour and shallow fried. It tastes very good with rice and some dal/lentil curry, but of course it can be served with rotis too..

Eggplant And Paneer Curry

          I make paneer at home, at least once in 2 weeks, since my daughter likes it very much and mostly instead of doing a curry with paneer alone, I cook it along with some vegetable. I usually add capsicum, peas, spinach or even cabbage, this time I wanted to try it with eggplant/brinjal. Sauteing the eggplant and then mixing in paneer pieces would have worked too, but I made a curry with grilled and mashed eggplant and paneer. At home, we like the smoky flavor from the grilled eggplant, if you don't like it then peel, cook and mash the eggplant. The curry was delicious with a nice flavor, we had it with rotis but it would go very well with naans or even with some light pilaf..

Eggplant And Coriander Curry

         
          For the month of February, I was paired with Lakshmi Vimala for the ' Shhhh Cooking Secretly' event, she had given me eggplant and coriander leaves as the secret ingredients. I came up with this curry with the two ingredients, I made a masala with the coriander leaves and cooked the eggplants in it. It turned out to be very flavorful, and tasted very good with both rotis and rice..

Eggplant and Chickpeas Curry, Kathirikkai Kondai Kadalai ( Chana ) Curry

          Chickpeas/ chana/ garbonza beans dishes are a favorite at home, especially, chana masala. Cooked chickpeas can be added to salads, to mixed rice and also pairs well with almost any vegetable in a curry. I love it with potatoes, eggplants, spinach, the list goes on. Usually, I add it it only to a gravy, this time I thought I'll make a dry curry with chana and kathirikkai/ eggplant/ brinjals. This curry is again like the Kathrikkai Podi Curry, only with a slight variation in the ingredients for the spice powder. It goes well with rice and sambar, any mixed rice or can be even served with rotis along with some raitha..

Eggplant And Capsicum Subzi

          Sometimes when I run out of vegetables, when I have a little of this and that, I try to make something with what I have in hand, this Eggplant and Capsicum Subzi is one such dish. It's a very simple subzi, the eggplant and capsicum make a nice pair and the garlic and black pepper give it a nice flavor. This would go very well, both with rotis or as a side dish to rice and dal and it's also very easy to put together..

Eggplant And Double Beans Masala

          At last, back to blogging, it's been more than a month, a move and couple of trips had kept me very busy, slowly settling down in Bangalore and missing Chennai very much. Have been missing my fellow bloggers, will catch up soon. Coming to today's dish, Eggplants and Double Beans Masala, this is an excellent side dish to go with both rice and rotis. I have used the small purple eggplants and fresh double beans, which makes this dish really very delicious and the fennel seeds and coconut paste gives a nice flavor to this dish..

Kathrikkai Masial/ Mashed Eggplant

          For most of the dishes using eggplants/ brinjals I use only the baby eggplants, there are very few dishes that I make with the big eggplant. Today's kathrikkai masial/ mashed eggplant is one of them, it's very easy to prepare and both my husband and daughter love this. It goes very well as part of a South Indian Thali ( rice + sambar + vegetable ) or as a side dish with rotis/ chappatis and also with akki rotis/ flatbreads made with rice flour. The smoked flavor from roasting the eggplants and the tamarind juice added gives a unique taste to this dish..

Baby Eggplant Roast

          Today's recipe is going to be another brinjal/ eggplant dish. I have used these mini baby brinjals for this curry. The masala that I have used here is actually used for stuffing these brinjals, but since these cuties were really small, I didn't stuff them. This is a slightly different masala with ginger, green chillies and peanuts (recipe source: one of my Andhra friends) which gives a very different flavor to this curry, goes very well with both rice and rotis..

Baingan Ka Salan/ Eggplant Curry With Peanuts And Sesame

         Couple of weeks ago, my parents had come and stayed with me for a few days. My father likes my cooking and I had made this Baingan Ka Salan/ Eggplant/ Brinjal curry one day to go with a pilaf. He liked it so much and even asked my mom to note down the recipe. The eggplants are cooked in a rich and spicy peanut and sesame seeds gravy and it tastes really good. Though this dish is traditionally served with Briyanis, it goes equally well with rotis or naans or I can eat it with even plain toast..

Burger With Sauteed Zucchini And Eggplant

          When I get bored of rotis and a little tired to do something else for dinner, I usually end up making something like a wrap or a burger like this. If I am really not in a mood to do anything, then it'll be a simple sandwich with cucumber and tomatoes, otherwise I saute some vegetable and use it as a filling. Yesterday, since I had a zucchini and eggplant ( the large one), I made this simple saute with it and used it in the burger. Since my daughter is wearing braces, I used some cheese spread along with it, you can actually use this filling with some mozzarella and make a panini. It was tasty, healthy and filling..

Potato And Eggplant Curry

          Most of the times when I have potatoes and eggplants/brinjals, I make separate curries with them, very rarely I do a combo with them except in a kurma. I have made this curry only a couple of times. The two vegetables pair very well, especially if you choose the right kind of eggplants and potatoes. When sauteed with some freshly ground spice powder, it turned out to be very flavorful and tasty, it's a good side dish with both rice and rotis..

Kathirikkai Podi Potta Curry / Eggplant Cooked With Spice Powder

          Kathirikkai Podi Potta Curry, this is one of my favorite curries using brinjals/eggplants. This curry comes out best when done with tender baby eggplants, which holds it shape and doesn't turn mushy when cooked. I have also done this curry with the Chinese eggplants, the long and slim ones, the curry tasted good but these brinjals turned a little too soft. It gets its flavor from the freshly ground spice powder/podi added to it and goes well with rice and dal..

Kathrikkai Kuzhambu/Eggplant Gravy

          Kuzhambus are a nice variation to the regular sambars and when grouped with rice and some kootu (dal/lentil and vegetable prepration) they make a very tasty and complete meal. I make them at least once a week, and one of the best vegetables to be used in it is the brinjal/eggplant/aubergine which is also a house favorite. This Eggplant Gravy also goes well with idlis and dosas and you can also have it with rotis and last but not the least (in fact the best) with some thayir saadam (curd rice). I've also added some boiled peanuts, which gives an extra taste to this dish..

Eggplant With Coconut And Fennel Seeds

          Another curry with eggplants/brinjals/aubergines, well I cook this vegetable quite often, not only because everybody at home likes it but also because it doesn't take much time to slice or chop it. I have used sliced baby eggplants and cooked them with ground coconut and fennel seeds, it tasted very good, a nice side dish to both rotis and rice..

Minty Eggplant With Peanuts

          We can find so many different varieties of eggplants in India, different colors and different sizes. And also, this is one of the vegetables that everybody likes at my home, so I make this at least once a week and try out different combinations with it. This is one such, mint and peanuts compliment the eggplants, adds a nice flavor and crunch to the curry, goes well with both rice and rotis..

Garlic Brinjal

          I know brinjal or eggplant is not everybody's favorite, but in my home, all of us like it. So when I was back in the US, I used to pick them up whenever I went to the Indian grocery store (you find the small varieties there only). But after coming to India, it's one vegetable that's readily available and also, so many varieties. As the name 'Garlic Brinjal' suggests, I have added a lot of garlic to the dish and I have used the small green variety, this one is for all the garlic and brinjal lovers..

Eggplant Rice - 2

          I am yet to start cooking after coming here to India, this is again another dish that I had done, before coming here. It is another version of the eggplant rice, you can see a different version of the eggplant rice here, a small change in the spices added to the dish results in an entirely new one. A friend of mine makes this, it has fennel seeds for the flavoring part, you can use both the huge eggplants as well as the smaller varieties..

Stuffed Eggplants

          Eggplants or brinjals or aubergines (some of the names that I know), there are so many varieties of them, the huge ones, the chinese eggplants, the Italian eggplants, the small, smaller and smallest brinjals, and also of different colors, white, purple and green. For today's stuffed eggplants we use the small purple brinjals, not too puny, but smaller ones, we have to slit and stuff the brinjals. And again, there are so many stuffings, each one tastes equally good, today's is adapted from Madhur Jaffrey's book. It calls for sesame seeds and coconut along with other spices to stuff the brinjals, the dish goes very well both with rice and rotis..