Baby Brinjals in Tomato-Coconut Masala ~ For Eggplant fans!

Yes! I'm back with another Brinjal recipe :) My hubby is a big fan of eggplants and I'm trying new ways of serving his favorite veggie. I looked at these awesome baby brinjals in the market and was pulled towards them. They were smooth and shiny and really tiny, as if plucked fresh from the garden, before they could become bigger! :D

Look at the dish...these Baby Brinjals cooked in spiced Tomato-Coconut gravy paste...ah, so flavorful and cooked till soft  :) Don't you want to make this for the brinjal-lover in your family?

Baby Brinjals in Tomato-Coconut Masala

Ah...the gravy is the winner here :)

A Closer look...

What I Used -

Baby Brinjals - 15 nos
Ripe Tomatoes - 3
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tsp
Grated coconut - 3 tbsp
Fresh coriander / Cilantro - a few
Oil - 1 tsp + 1 tbsp

Whole Spices -

Black mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin / Jeera - 1 tsp
Fenugreek (mendayam) - 1/2 tsp
Dried Red Chillies - 2 nos

Masala powders -

Fennel powder (Sombu)- 1/4 tsp (Do not increase this, as it tends to be over-powering)
Kitchen King masala - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 tsp
Pepper-Jeera powder - 1/2 tsp

And the standard ones...

Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Red chilli powder - 3/4 tsp
Salt - to taste

How To -

• Take a deep, non-stick kadai/wok and heat a teaspoon of oil. Let mustard seeds splutter. Follow with cumin, fenugreek, red chillies (stem removed and then broken into two) and funnel powder.
• Chop tomatoes fine and add to the kadai. Mix well with the whole spices. Keep the pan covered for 5 minutes.
• After tomatoes are cooked, add ginger-garlic paste and mix well.
• While the tomatoes are getting cooked, remove the stems of brinjals, slit them vertically and horizontally (don't quarter them!) while retaining them as whole.
• Add the baby brinjals now and cover the pan. Let them cook for 3 minutes.
• Add the masalas - Kitchen King, Coriander powder and Pepper-Jeera powder. I like to sprinkle the powders with my (clean!) fingers.
• Add turmeric, red chilli powder and salt. Mix well and let cook for 2 minutes.
• Toss the brinjals gently (without mashing them or breaking them) so that they get coated with the gravy. You may also try to fill in some paste into the brinjals.
• Drizzle some oil around the brinjals and toss once again. Close the pan and let them cook well for about 10 minutes. Make sure the veggies don't get burnt. Add some oil in-between if you need.
• You can see that the color of the skin of eggplants has turned from purple to brown. Sprinkle grated coconut and toss the veggies carefully. Cook covered for another 3 minutes. Switch off the flame.
• Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves. 

Serve with white rice as such, or with rasam. I love this with Garlic/Poondu Rasam.

Baby Brinjals in tomato-Coconut Masala

Kadala Kozhambu (Chick peas in tamarind-coconut milk gravy)

This is a recipe passed on through generations. My grandma makes this tangy, coconut-milk rich gravy and adds cooked chick peas to it. My hubby loves this too, as he has tasted this from his grandma as well :) So yeah, it's an old recipe, propagated well.

What You Need -

Chick peas/ Garbanzo beans/ White Channa - 1 cup
Tamarind - a small ball of 2" diameter
Thick Coconut milk - 1/2 cup
Asafoetida/Hing - 2 drizzles
Sambar powder - 2 heaped teaspoons (Available in Indian stores)
Turmeric powder/ Haldi - 1/4 tsp
Salt - to taste

To Temper -

Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Fresh Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Oil - 1 tsp

Preparatory Steps -

1. Soak Channa overnight. If you're pressed for time, then soak them for 2-3 hours and pressure-cook with a pinch of baking soda.

2. Soak tamarind in hot water and extract juice from it. Strain the impurities and seeds away.

3. Extract coconut milk from coconut and use the first and second grade milk in this recipe. Or, you may just use store-bought coconut cream/milk. You'll need only 3 tbsp of commercial brands, as these are very thick.
Please check out my notes here on how to get different grades of coconut milk. 

Method -

• Take tamarind water in a pan.
• Add turmeric powder, sambar powder, hing and salt and boil for 5 minutes.
• Add cooked channa and boil together for 10 minutes.

• Simmer and add second grade coconut milk.

• Next, add thick coconut milk and switch off.
• If you find the gravy to be too thick, add some channa stock (water in which channa is cooked). Alternatively, you may soak tamarind in that water to save some nutrients :)

• Take a mini-kadai, heat 1 tsp oil and splutter mustard seeds. Tear and throw some curry leaves. Pour this to the gravy that's ready.

This is a variety of kozhambu or sambar that's eaten with rice. You can enjoy this with any dry curries  like Potato fry or Colocasia roast.

Beetroot kurma (Beetroot masala)

The goodness of beetroot is that it contains no fat, very few calories and is a great source of fiber. Beetroots are a rich source of magnesium, sodium, potassium and some Vitamin C and its juice is said to lower blood pressure and therefore can prevent cardio-vascular problems.

We all know that beetroots taste sweeter and there is a particular variety called sugar beet which has a high concentration of sucrose.

My mum-in-law leveraged on the attribute of beetroots to taste sweet and combined it with traditional Indian spices and concocted a recipe that's also quite rich because of the addition of coconut and cashewnuts.

This is the first recipe I learnt from her and I've made it numerous times, given that my hubby loves it and doesn't take beetroot in any other form! It goes well with both rice and roti.

This is How She Makes It :-

Wash and clean 2 beetroots and 1 potato. Cut off the stalks from beetroots and scrap off the skin from the vegetables.

Make small cubes and add a tsp of finely chopped ginger. Now, pressure cook the chopped vegetables with some salt.

Don't worry if the potatoes take on the color of beets and turn pink too. When you drain the excess water, save some stock to add to our gravy later.

Heat 1 tsp ghee in a deep pan. Allow mustard seeds to splutter and then add a few cloves(grambu) and fennel seeds (sombu).  Meanwhile, make a paste out of onions, bayleaves, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, poppy seeds(khus-khus).

Add this onion + spices paste to the pan. This should get cooked well. We do not want the raw smell of onions in our dish.

Add ginger-garlic paste to this and pour the juice of 2 tomatoes.

Mix well and let it cook for a couple of minutes. Now is the time to add the boiled vegetables. Sprinkle salt, red chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric powder, as necessary. You can add the stock now if the mixture looks too dry. Mix well and keep the pan covered for 10-12 minutes. 

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Now, grind together 3 tbsp of grated coconut along with 10-12 cashewnuts and be ready.

Open the pan and check for salt and spice level. Finally, add the cashew + coconut paste and stir for 3-5 minutes. Your beetroot kurma is ready to eat :)

This is a good way to make kids eat beetroots. Optionally, you can increase the quantity of potatoes.

Hope you try this and your family likes it too :)