Brinjal Curry
Really easy brinjal curry with beetroot leaves. I served the curry with bhagat muthia, a deep-fried lentil ball (recipe on the blog) and sona masoori rice. The brinjal curry would also be delicious served on its own with hot roti!
The inspiration for the brinjal curry came from a dish my granny used to make called "Ravaiya". She'd use similar ingredients to stuff baby brinjals and then slow-cooked them.
Ingredients
4 Tbsp ghee/oil of choice
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp mustard seeds
1 dry red chilli
1 medium-sized red onion, chopped
1 tsp green chilli, minced
½ tsp garlic, minced
½ tsp ginger, minced
1 punnet baby brinjals, quartered
Salt to taste
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp coriander powder
½ tsp cumin powder
½ tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp garam masala
2 Tbsp chickpea flour
½ cup pureed tomato
½ cup water
2 cups beetroot/spinach leaves, chopped
1 Tbsp brown sesame seeds
Method
Heat ghee/oil in a heavy-based frypan on medium heat. Add cumin seeds, mustard seeds and dry red chilli. Once the spices infuse into the oil, add red onion.
While the onions are cooking, slice the baby brinjal and sprinkle a bit of salt on the top. Keep aside.
When the onion is translucent and slightly browned, add green chilli, garlic and ginger.
After standing for a while, the brinjals would have released some of its water. Add the brinjal to the pan with turmeric powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, red chilli powder and garam masala. Lower the heat so that the brinjals cook on low heat with the lid on.
Once the brinjals have softened, sprinkle chickpea flour on the top.
While the brinjal cooks, in another small frying pan or pot, boil tomato and water till tomato is cooked. Add to the cooked brinjal.
Stir in beetroot/spinach leaves. Note that the leaves will cook quickly in the heat, so turn off the heat as soon as added. Taste to adjust the salt.
Finish the dish by sprinkling sesame seeds on the top.
