stuffed brinjal curry (vankaya pettu karam)

Ingredients:


* 1/4 kg purple brinjals, wash, make + quarters with stalk intact and apply oil
* 1 tbsp oil
* few curry leaves

For stuffing:

* 1 1/4 tbsps coriander seeds
* 3 tbsps channa dal/bengal gram
* 1 1/2 tbsps urad dal/split gram dal
* 2-3 dry red chillis, tear and de-seed
* 1/2 tsp cumin seeds/jeera/jeelakara
* pinch of methi seeds/fenugreek/menthulu (optional)
* big pinch asafoetida/hing/inguva
* small gooseberry sized tamarind
* salt to taste


Method:

Dry roast dry red chillis, methi seeds and cumin together for 2 mts and remove. Cool the dry roasted ingredients.
Add turmeric pwd, salt, tamarind, hing to these roasted ingredients and grind them all together to a coarse pwd  (It should not be wet).
2 .In the same vessel, add the remaining oil, add curry leaves and toss them for a few seconds.
 Place the stuffed brinjals in the oil and cook on high flame for 4-5 mts.
Now, cover with lid and let them cook on medium flame for 10-12 mts. Keep checking in between and stir fry to ensure they don’t burn or stick to the pan.
3 .Now on low flame nicely roast the brinjals without lid. It should take 35-40 mts for the brinjals to cook inside and be well roasted.
4 .Serve with rice, pappu pulusu or sambar and papad.

Note:
Alternately, you could place the stuffed brinjals in a aluminium foil, spray oil and bake till done. This recipe can be tried without tamarind too. Any left over stuffing can be used as a kura podi with stir fries (vegetables like okra/brinjals/bitter gourd ).

1 .Add 1/2 tsp oil in a cooking vessel, add coriander seeds and stir fry till it turns slightly dark in color. Remove Similarly, add channa dal and urad dal, roast till them till they turn red and remove.