Hydrabadi Baingan: Spiced Eggplant in Peanut gravy

Somehow I have never tried any of the ‘’famous’’ Hydrabadi cuisine speciality. I did get a chance to taste the veg Hydrabadi Biryani once but unfortunately, didn’t like it very much. It might be the Restaurant which was not authentic otherwise as well, or the fact that I don’t really like sweet taste in my main Course. That’s also the reason why I don’t like Gujarati main courses dishes with sweet taste that much ( pun intended ). Since I was not getting any better with trying new dishes, ruining them one after the another, I had to cme up with something which I had never tasted before. And this held a good one for the thought.

This Hydrabadi eggplant curry is one of the yummiest thing I have tried so far. The whole gravy combination with peanuts and sesame was quite new for me and I really enjoyed cooking it. The recipe is taken from many blogs and twisted according to my own tastes and leftovers in my kitchen. How I ended up in making this curry is yet another story..

The mistake I did was to ask hubby to buy the eggplants while coming from the office. And he got the bigger purple ones, I would rather have chosen the green smaller variety which gives the best result in this kind of gravy. The small green eggplants with fine lines and fewer seeds are the best one for making curries and gravies specially the stuffed variety. Nevertheless this big aubergine also did OK to the dish, making me swear again not to ask hubby to get any vegetable in future. He once got courgettes when I asked for cucumbers and Melon instead of Butter nut squash another time.... HUSBANDS !!

  

Although if you look at the long list of spices to be ground and paste, you might skip the idea of trying this recipe. But I assure you, its not that difficult. What I did was, while I was roasting one ingredient on flame, I kept taking out others from the shelf, chopping Aubergine, onions etc. Not to forget, stirring in between so that the roasted item doesn’t get burnt. At the end, it was all worth and fruitful.. A wonderful recipe with subtle flavours. A special treat for North Indians since we don’t involve these spices together in our gravies.

Ingredients: 

• To be ground to a paste:
• 1/2 cup Peanuts
• 1/4 cup Sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup Poppy seeds
• 2 tbsp Chana Daal
• 2 tbsp dessicated Coconut ( optional )

Other Ingredients:

• 7-8 small brinjals
• 1 large onion, chopped 
• 2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp cumin seeds 
• 1 1/2 tsp Garam Masala 
• 1 tsp turmeric, red chili powder 
• 1 tbsp Tamarind Paste 
• Salt as per taste 
• 1 tbsp Oil
• Cilantro for garnish
• 1 tsp Chili powder

Method:

• Lets prepare the Paste first, roast peanuts, poppy seeds, Chana Dal and sesame seeds separately. Allow them to cool and grind them to a smooth paste. Keep aside. 
• Slit the eggplants in the center from the base of each eggplant to its stem, keeping the stem intact. Soak them in  salted warm water to keep the colour intact.
• Fill half of the ground paste into the slit Eggplants and keep the other half aside.
• Now, heat 2 tbsp of oil and splutter Cumin seeds. Add onion and saute till brown. 
• Add Ginger-Garlic paste and curry leaves and fry along with the onion for a minute. Add all the spices to it and mix well. 
• Now place the stuffed Eggplants in the pan and cook it covered on a low flame for 10-12 minutes, turning them once or twice in between.

• When the Eggplants are cooked properly, add the remaining paste and 1 cup water and bring to a boil. 
• Lower the flame and add Tamarind Paste to it. Cook it covered for next 10-12 minutes, turning the Eggplants once or twice in between. 
• Adjust the seasoning with Garam Masala and turn off the flame. Keep it covered for a while, like for 2-3 minutes so that it absorbs the flavor. 
• Serve hot Garnish with  and Cilantro.

Notes: 

• Poke the Eggplants in places to make sure they have cooked well. 
• You can also fry the Eggplants instead of stuffing the paste and shallow frying them. It will not be stuffed Eggplant curry then though. 
• Usage of coconut is optional, you can also skip the Chana Dal in the paste. 

Off to Spotlight- Gravies hosted by Chandrani