Eggplant Theeyal
As usual I underestimated the power of laziness while promising a week of vegetarian gravies. I had four different dishes which fit the theme sitting in the draft with recipes, all I had to do was type up an introduction and click the publish button! Well, anyway with the rate at which I am blogging, I can safely say this is going to be a veg-gravy month here.
Theeyal is a generic term for dishes with a brown sauce made of roasted coconut and spices along with tamarind paste forming the base. I love all kinds of brown food, Theeyal being one of my favorite. The basic preparation is the same for all theeyals, you can add different kind of veggies to make okra Theeyal, onion Theeyal, bitter gourd Theeyal etc. This base is also great with chicken and prawns, although we never call it Chicken Theeyal for some reason!
This eggplant Theeyal is more veg-heavy than usual theeyals. Normally the pieces are sparse and the sauce is thinner, but I had to use up all the eggplants in the fridge. Also, made this way, it makes a wholesome meal with steamed rice.
Ingredients
- 1lb eggplants sliced into thick rounds
- To Grind
- 1.5 cups fresh or frozen grated coconut
- 1 tbsp thinly sliced shallots
- 2 tbsp thinly sliced ginger pieces
- 6 dry red chilies
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1/8 tsp fenugreek seeds
- 1/8 tsp cumin seeds
- 1.5 tbsp oil
- 1/4 tsp mustard seeds
- 1/4 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 dry red chilies
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced shallots
- 4 cloves garlic whole
- 4 green chilies
- a few curry leaves
- 1 tbsp tamarind paste
- salt to taste
Method
In a deep pan, dry roast the grated coconut till brown and keep aside.
In the same pan, dry roast the red chilies, coriander powder, fenugreek seeds and cumin seeds and keep aside.
Add a little bit of oil and saute the shallots and ginger pieces one after the other till brown.
Grind all the fried ingredients with a little water to form a smooth paste.
Add some more oil to the pan and saute the egg plant pieces till soft. Remove and keep aside.
Add a little more oil to the pan and add mustard seeds when the oil is hot. When the mustard seeds start to splutter, add the cumin seeds and red chilies and saute for a few seconds. Add the shallots, green chillies and garlic and saute till shallots are soft.
Add the ground spice paste, tamarind paste, curry leaves and salt. Saute for about 3-4 minutes stirring frequently. Add the sauteed eggplant pieces and mix well to coat the pieces well with the spice paste. Add 1/2 cup hot water to the pan and cook till the gravy thickens.
Serve with steamed rice.
Get It While It's Hot!
You can get Live to Eat updates instantaneously by e-mail or in Facebook or through your favorite RSS Reader.
|
|
 Subscribe to RSS Feed  Follow
on Facebook |
You might also like these posts...
I have a bag of eggplants and I think this is perfect for tonight’s dinner
and you know what… you called it a sauce… so I think I’ll send it to MBP as well 
Looks spicy n yummy indeed!
wooo this is a unique theeyal…i only make ulli theeyal….urs looks adipoli..
Aah… theeyal, recipe is exactly as my mother makes it, and brought back memories.. I have to make this soon, as soon as I buy some eggplant:-)
i am always fascinated when dishes are called something specific…like theeyal, thuvial, poriyal….in my house it went as curry if it had a gravy…or just the ingredients (like…cabbage) if it was dry….bah!! so boring…..this looks great…and i think if the spice-coconut mix can be made and stored…it will be sooo much better for my lazy bones!!
Looks delicious..lovely click..
:drool: I am eggplant fan and love to experiment on that veggie.. very nice recipe thanks for sharing
Sig i think we have the same book, I have almost a same recipe from Mrs Mathew.
I make it a bit more gravy and less eggplant.
It is delicious with rice.
Hi Sigma
The picture looks yummy, I love ulli theeyal the best ! but you know what – as far as I know, traditional theeyal does not contain cumin ,fenugreek , garlic & ginger .
But we do add garlic (1 or 2 pods max)and small piece of ginger and black peppercorns for konchu/prawn theeyal or Anchovi theeyal -(netholi).
Theeyal is one of my favorite dishes. :drool: I usually make mine with ulli.
I have some eggplants lying in my fridge too…will give it a try.
Good One Sig. new to me.
Oooh, I’m so gonna make this dish. Looks like fish curry, only with vegetables instead of fish.
Very tempting theeyal , I can imagine with rice
That looks absolutely tempting Sig and can you believe an entire month of veggie graves at Live to Eat – that must be a first
theres a small treat in my blog for u…collet it soon.:)
.
I actually don’t know the difference…
..but mean of you to post all these after the curry mela is done! 
This is one yummy Egg plant preparation…I like the recipe for ground paste. :drool:
I had ulli theeyal somewhere recently, at a restaurant – quite liked it but just couldn’t taste the coconut!
I stumbled across your blog by accident and I must say now am kinda glued to ur blog
..wow grt blog nd grt recipes..even though i haven’t tried any of them, it did fire my taste buds..so am gonna give it a shot…happy cooking and blogging !
Onion and eggplant theeyal are my favorites! Thanks for posting this, dear! Yummy!
How have you been doing?
Hugs,
musical.
Its funny what Arundati said, calling everything curry. Even TH does the same! He calls cabbage thoran cabbage curry and it drives me nuts. Thankfully he calls theeyal kozhambu so its slightly better. But coming to think of it, I have only been making theeyal the tamil way sans coconut. Its time I made this too. I love it with tons of ulli
I love theeyal. Usually makes with ulli/pavakka.
Hmmm…. I’ve tried Ulli ( that is onion…. right??) theeyal..lovedit, will try this for the Hubby, he loves eggplant.
oooh, that eggplant theeyal is a absolute winner! Looks so spicy and mouth-watering.
eggplant…that is the bummer in this dish
How are you doing? I will make this for jeeves…
Hey Sig,
Love your blog:grin:!!! I enjoy theeyal…mostly make it with bittergourd (pavakka). Since you are having the veggie fever….wanted to know if you have good pavakka recipes? Pavakka, being one of my fav veggies….would love to experiment it some other way beside theeyal
!!
Hope you will help me out on this one
.
mmm amma had bought a Kilo of “mullu kathirikkai” (these brinjals come with soft thorns in their stems and supposed to be the tastiest of their kind) yesterday. Would definitely want to try this!
mmm amma had bought a Kilo of “mullu kathirikkai” (these brinjals come with soft thorns in their stems and supposed to be the tastiest of their kind) yesterday. Would definitely want to try this! Imagining a thick creamy curd rice to go along with this. Ah I am drooling !
Certainly looks very interesting. So much variety in Indian food…I have lived there all my life and yet find stuff that I have never tried before. BTW, try New Orleans on your next vacation; I think you will enjoy the variety in food there.
I have tasted Ulli theeyal and I absolutely love it. Didn’t know about eggplant theeyal. It looks great. I am loving this series
Sig,reading the recipe itself made me want to have this right now. I am definitely making this!
Having theeyal for lunch alwys seemed like a punishment for me!! And eggplants in it??
http://chefatwork.blogspot.com/2008/10/sharing-excitement.html
I make ulli theeyal which we really enjoy. But never made it with eggplant.
And Sig, I for one am really looking forward to your month long veg gravy posts.
Little differsnt from the tamarind gravy we make. I do not add ginger though. Lovely looking theeyal. Nice Pic.
[...] my eggplant theeyal post last week, Arundati commented that all gravies were known as “curry” in her house. [...]
Sigma, Well the word ‘traditional’ can be argued at no lengths ,I am sure. By ‘Traditional’ ,I meant the very basic theeyal recipe . Again it depends on which part of Kerala you are from .
Hi Sig ..
First time to ur blog ..Great recipes ..My amma make brinjal theeyal in the same way …Keep up the good work ..:)Will be back soon to check out ur other recipes.
veena
oooooooh! that looks outrageously tempting :drool:
I was gonna make Avial and then after mixing carrots and potatos and eggpalnt,somewhere read that eggplant cannot be used in Avial.And so came here to make eggplant theeyal.I could remove all the carrots but not potato.So its an eggplant-potato theeyal.I put the fenugreek a bit too much i think…but overall a nice recipe and a nice dish.Thank you
I had to leave this comment here. After trying your theeyal, I can’t get myself to make eggplant (the Indian variety) any other way. One of your best recipes this!
Glad you liked it Mamatha… Theeyal is one of favorites as well… Try bitter gourd next time if you are a bitter gourd fan..
Leave your response!
Recent Posts
Subscribe
Enter your e-mail id in the box below to get new posts in your email:
Categories
Archives