It is very hard for me to walk by any kind of baby vegetables without putting some in my shopping cart. They are so impossibly cute that one needs a steely resolve to pass them by! And although rare to find baby turnips or beets or squash in my regular grocery store, I do have very easy and year-round access to baby eggplants at the Indian grocery store.
Once I bring them home though, it’s indecision time about how to cook them. It is a given that the eggplants will be stuffed – the best way to showcase them. But what kind of stuffing among the myriad of childhood favorites! Should it be a Gutti Vankaya or Baghara Baingan in the Andhra style or a Bharli Vangi in the Maharashtrian style or stuffed with a cilantro and green chili paste or with a peanut-sesame spice powder….too many choices 🙂
This time, a spicy peanut-coconut-sesame paste stuffed dish came to mind. We called it ‘Putta’s vankaya‘ because it was made by Putta, a cook from Mangalore who came home to help out whenever we had parties or large gatherings. The eggplants was stuffed and cooked perfectly tender and served surrounded by a fiery orange sauce. He was nice enough to give us the recipe and my mother used to make this quite often. Her version was just as delicious but lacked the beautiful orange color of Putta’s dish. It was only many years later that I discovered the secret to the color – the wonderful Byadgi chillies which are quite easy to get a hold of in the Indian grocery stores here but Kashmiri red chillies make an excellent substitute.
This is a delicious blend of spicy, tangy and a hint of sweet. You can adjust the amount of water depending on whether you would like it dry or with a gravy. Try it the next time you come across baby eggplants and can’t resist picking some up:)
Stuffed Baby Eggplants
12-14 baby eggplants
1 tbsp bengal gram (chana) dal
1/2 tbsp black lentils (urad dal)
1/2 tsp fenugreek (methi) seeds
3 tbsp raw peanuts
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/4 cup grated, fresh coconut or 2 tbsp unsweetened, dried coconut powder or flakes
5-6 dried kashmiri or byadgi chillies
2 tbsp coriander seeds
6-8 fresh curry leaves
3 tbsp thick, tamarind pulp
1 tbsp jaggery or brown sugar
3 tbsp + 1 tbsp canola, vegetable or peanut oil
salt to taste
Heat one tbsp oil in a heavy- bottomed skillet/pan on medium flame. Add the fenugreek seeds and once they start to turn golden brown, add the chana dal and urad dal. Fry for a minute and then add the peanuts and coriander seeds. Fry for a couple of minutes until they start to change color.
Add the curry leaves, sesame seeds and dried red chillies and fry for a minute or two, until the sesame seeds start to pop.
Turn off the stove and let the mixture cool.
Transfer the mixture to the blender bowl and add some salt, tamarind and jaggery/brown sugar.
Add a cup of water and grind to a paste that is slightly coarse.
Slit the eggplants approx. 3/4 of the way through, making perpendicular cuts. Make sure the bottom part is intact and not cut all the way through.
Stuff about 1/2 tbsp of the paste into the slits, across both the cuts. Keep the rest of the paste aside.
Heat the remaining 3 tbsp of oil in the skillet on a medium-high flame. Add the eggplants and lower the flame to medium.
After a minute, sprinkle a couple of tbsp of water and cover the pan. Cook covered for about 10-12 while flipping them every 3-4 minutes. Pierce the tip of a knife through the eggplant to make sure it is cooked.
Transfer the eggplant to a plate and in the same skillet (no need to wash) add the paste and a cup to a cup and half of water. If you like the sauce thinner, add a little bit more water. The sauce will thicken upon heating.
Heat the sauce over a medium flame, stirring often until it starts to bubble (Make sure you are stirring often because the sauce tends to stick to the bottom of the pan)
Add the eggplants, reduce the heat to medium-low and cook covered for another 2-3 minutes.
Serve with rice, rotis or puris.
Enjoy!
* I usually add enough salt to the paste for it to taste just right. You will need to add some more salt when you thin down the paste for the gravy.
