BABY EGGPLANT WITH SWEET AND SOUR GRAVY

BABY EGGPLANT WITH SWEET AND SOUR GRAVY

HYDERABAD STYLE BAGHARE BAIGAN

Hyderabad is the capital of an Indian state of Telangana and the fourth most populous city in India. Hyderabad is famous for its tourist attractions and historical monuments like Charminar etc. Hyderabad is also famous for its cuisine, particularly for chicken and mutton biryani, and lots of other sweet and sour Mughlai dishes, baghare baigan is one of its popular dishes. In many restaurants in India and abroad, anyone can find these famous Hyderabad dishes in their original names because of its awesome taste, these dishes are very popular.

 

A few months back when I was talking to my brother on the phone, who lives in Delhi, India, we talked about his tour to Hyderabad, he told me that apart from so many other things, he really enjoyed the food there. During his visit to Hyderabad and while eating in restaurants, he saw the famous biryani being packed in nice takeaway packaging, which people were taking even on long distances. He told me that he also decided to take a packet of the famous biryani to Delhi which is very far, around 1500 km, at that time he was travelling back to Delhi by air. So he called the restaurant, one hour before and gave the order of two packets of biryani of his choice, when he boarded in the taxi to the airport, on his way he collected the packets of biryani for his kids, and his kids in Delhi, really enjoyed this tasty and unique gift from their father.

A few years ago in Botswana, during my holidays, I travelled around 600 km and visited my friend and stayed with her for a week. At that time, she was living in a beautiful town called Maun and my family and I enjoyed visiting the beautiful surroundings of the town and of course the world-famous Okavango Delta. During the stay, my friend's neighbour who was originally from Hyderabad invited us for dinner; we enjoyed the dinner and talked a lot about Hyderabad cuisine. The next day we invited her over to come and demonstrate the cooking of a few dishes from Hyderabad. That is when I learned this recipe of baby eggplant in sweet and sour gravy. I have made this recipe in many gatherings and parties at our house after that, and every time, people have really enjoyed it and appreciated the recipe.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 500 grams baby eggplant/brinjal
• One big onion (200 grams)
• 3-4 cloves of garlic
• A small piece of ginger
• 3 tbs raw peanuts
• 2 tbs sesame seeds
• 3 tbs lemon juice/tamarind juice
• 2 tbs desiccated coconut
• 1-2 tbs sugar or to taste
• salt and chili powder/flakes to taste
• 1 tbs coriander powder
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• few fresh green curry leaves OR Coriander/Cilantro
• 3 tbs oil

METHOD

• Finely chop or grate onion, garlic and ginger. Slit the eggplants lengthwise.
• Dry roast peanuts, coconut and sesame seeds and let it cool.
• Heat 1tbs oil in a frying pan on a medium flame. Add the mustard seeds and let it splutter, then add eggplants with salt, turmeric, chili and coriander powder and cook till they are soft and cooked properly by covering the lid.
• Till eggplants are cooking make a paste of the roasted peanuts, coconut and sesame seeds by adding 1/2 to 1 cup of water in a blender.
• Take out the cooked eggplants in a plate and in the same frying pan heat the 2 tbs oil and roast curry leaves, ginger, garlic and onion till brown in colour on a medium heat, then add the paste of peanuts etc. in it. Now add the lemon juice and sugar in it; mix well and fold the cooked eggplants in it.
• Serve hot with rice, naan or any other flat bread.

I am sharing this recipe with the following link parties-Cook once eat Twice and Fiesta Friday
and Full plate Thursday and Hearth and soul blog hop and Sweet Inspiration link part, with Meatless Monday