Stuffed Baby Brinjal Curry

I have a soft corner for certain vegetables that are not quite popular with other people. Somehow I fell in love with vegetables like Bitter gourd, cabbage , brinjal to name a few and coax my folks into eating them. I try to cook such vegetables in different forms and methods and try to convert my folks into liking them eventually.

One such attempt was when I cooked this creamy curry with brinjal.

I adapted this dish from Nalini's blog and it was served when my nephew stayed with us for a couple of days last summer.He is one of the few who brave my cooking experiments and it is always a pleasure to watch him savor my trials.

This dish goes well with steamed rice and roti / Chapathi. The kids had it with Chapathi and we had it with rice. Since everyone at home gave it a thumbs up, I can gladly say I did convert them to liking brinjal even if it was for just a day!!!

I used:

Adapted from Nalini's Kitchen

For the paste

Melon seeds- 1/8 cup
Coconut,grated-1/8 cup
Poppy seeds- 1 tablespoon
Saunf / Fennel seeds- 1/2 teaspoon

For the masala spice mix

Sambar powder- 2 tablespoons / as per need
A generous pinch of salt

For the curry

Baby eggplant / brinjal - 1/4 kilo
Onion, finely chopped- 1
Curry leaves- a few
Tamarind extract- 2 teaspoons / adjust to taste
Fennel seeds-1/2 teaspoon
Mustard seeds-1/2 teaspoon
Finely Chopped ginger-1/2 teaspoon
Finely Chopped garlic- 1/2 teaspoon
Turmeric powder- a large pinch
Coriander leaves- a handful,chopped
Oil-1 tablespoon

Take the ingredients for the paste in a mixie jar and grind to a smooth ,thick paste adding a little water.Keep aside

Mix the ingredients for the spice mix and keep aside.

Wash and pat dry the brinjal and make X shaped slit marks as shown.I kept the stalk intact. You can trim it if you prefer. Fill the brinjal with the spice powder and keep aside.

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and add the mustard and fennel seeds. When the mustard pops, add the onion,curry leaves, ginger and garlic. Saute till the onions turn light brown.Add salt and the brinjal.

Put in the ground paste, remaining spice powder mix,turmeric powder and about 1/4 cup of water.

Add the tamarind juice and pressure cook for 10 minutes or till the brinjal is soft yet not mushy. Open the cooker after the pressure releases and add teh coriander leaves. Give it a mix and serve.

Goes well with Rice and Roti.

Note:

You can use [soaked]cashews/ almonds instead of melon seeds
The quantity of the spice mix depends on the brinjal and the quantity used to stuff the brinjal with
The tamarind should add just a hint of sourness and should not taste like puli kuzhambu. Well, that was how little I added.
You can also use a pan instead of pressure cooker. It will get done a little slowly though.

I have another interesting recipe with brinjal coming up tomorrow. Do come back to check it out..

Bon Appetit...