Spicy Baby Eggplants

Posted on | February 22, 2010 | 27 Comments |

A pure vegetarian recipe is long due in this space. We have been trying to incorporate more vegetables into our diet lately. While I enjoy salads and simply sautéed veggies tremendously as a side for meat or seafood, I really need something spicy to go with a rice based meal. Eggplant is one of those vegetables that can take spices really well. I grew up hating this vegetable, but these days I am okay with it as long as it is not cooked to death. I made this one just like I’d make a quick chicken fry and it turned out really good. It is nothing exciting, but sometimes your way of making a simple dish might be significantly different from my way and it is always good to know a few simple recipes, isn’t it?

Spicy Baby Eggplant

Ingredients

1/2 lb baby eggplants, sliced into 8 pieces lengthwise.
2 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 cup shallots, diced to medium sized pieces
2 green chilies, sliced
1/2 tsp red chili powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp fresh garam masala (powder fennel, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom & cloves)
1/2 tsp ginger paste
1/2 tsp garlic paste
Salt to taste
A few curry leaves

Method

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sauté pan and add the mustard seeds. When these start to splutter, add the shallots, sliced green chilies and curry leaves and sauté till the shallots are softened. Mix the chili, coriander and turmeric powders and the ginger and garlic pastes in a little bit of water to make a paste. Add this paste to the pan and sauté on low heat for about 5 minutes or so, till the spices are fried through, but not burned. Now add the eggplants, salt and garam masala and stir carefully to coat the eggplants with the masala. Add the remaining oil and mix well. Close the pan and cook on low heat for 3 minutes. Remove the lid and keep cooking on low heat, stirring occasionally till the eggplant is soft but still a bit crunchy. Remove and serve hot with rice and moru curry or pulissery.

Category: Eggplant, Vegetarian

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« « Mutton Chops in a Black Pepper Sauce| Restaurant Style Chicken Curry – Step by Step Recipe » »

Comments

27 Responses to “Spicy Baby Eggplants”

sra
February 22nd, 2010 @ 11:08 pm
Reply

Even I never liked it as a kid, but really love it now – a lot of people grow into brinjal!
Raaga
February 22nd, 2010 @ 11:12 pm
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Oh well.. I have always loved this! It doesn’t agree with me (induces acidity/heartburn) but that doesn’t stop me from eating it… ALL THE TIME
Meeta
February 22nd, 2010 @ 11:31 pm
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oh sig i love eggplants prepared this way. actually it was the last meal i had in dubai before leaving, my mum makes it but instead she fills the baby eggplants instead of cutting it! sending you hugs!
Happy Cook
February 22nd, 2010 @ 11:55 pm
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Only time we had eggplant was in sambar and we still hated it. But i have to admit i do enjoy them occasionaly now.
This one i would surley enjoy.
MaryMoh
February 23rd, 2010 @ 12:03 am
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MMM….looks delicious. I love eggplants. I love the spiciness here. I don’t cook often cos my family doesn’t quite like eggplants. I can cook and eat it myself
nags
February 23rd, 2010 @ 12:17 am
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yummo! eggplants and me, we get along awesome
Miri
February 23rd, 2010 @ 12:18 am
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Try a coconut garnish – a lovely finish to this beautifully simple dish!
arundati
February 23rd, 2010 @ 12:58 am
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i was pretty agnostic to eggplant other than baghara baingan where too i’d eat only the gravy… now i love it…and must try this simple recipe…
nandita
February 23rd, 2010 @ 2:31 am
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These look cute – and we find these in our vegetable store – so hope to try it soon!
Jayashree
February 23rd, 2010 @ 5:03 am
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I’ve always loved brinjals…..your version sounds good.
usha
February 23rd, 2010 @ 5:34 am
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I don’t love the vegetable but I don’t mind eating it either..
Latha
February 23rd, 2010 @ 7:10 am
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Never liked it as a kid. But now I make it once week. Love your version. Will try it soon.
sathya sankar
February 23rd, 2010 @ 8:12 am
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Looks delicious sig, love them !
aruna
February 23rd, 2010 @ 8:27 am
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This is one of my favourite dish…..looks tempting!
Mamatha
February 23rd, 2010 @ 8:30 am
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I hated brinjal too as a kid, but I quite like it now. Reminds me, it’s been a while since I made your eggplant theeyal, time to make it again. And I want to try your moru curry too.
Soma
February 23rd, 2010 @ 9:29 am
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Love eggplants ! and frying it spicy is one of our favorite ways to eat baingan. I make this almost the same way, sans the garam maasala. lovely dish.
Vaishali
February 23rd, 2010 @ 10:50 am
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Looks delicious !
Bong Mom
February 23rd, 2010 @ 11:45 am
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Mmmm, looks definitely very good
sreelu
February 23rd, 2010 @ 11:45 am
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Looks yum, !!
Lori
February 23rd, 2010 @ 1:32 pm
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What an easy great recipe! Can’t wait to try it. I am going to go to my local asian grocery and get some little eggplants. Thanks!
shankari
February 23rd, 2010 @ 5:28 pm
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I love eggplant in any size shape or form. We make it this way all the time. My fav combo is this curry with yogurt rice
Chaitali
February 23rd, 2010 @ 6:52 pm
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Ohhh! My mom used to make something very similar as a side whenever we had rasam-rice. I love your photography! It’s pretty difficult to make Indian food look good and you make it look so delicious.
Divya
February 24th, 2010 @ 11:26 pm
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Love the way it looks but eggplant is not my favorite vegetable:)
Fathima
February 26th, 2010 @ 7:44 pm
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Really yummy ‘n spicy…would be perfect w/ rice… nice presentation as well…
priti
March 5th, 2010 @ 12:34 pm
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hi sig,
i am a frequent visitor of ur website.. i have tried a lot of dishes from ur website and i just loved them. i was actually planning on preparing the spicy eggplant but thought i’ll clear my doubts before starting to..:) u have mentioned ginger and garlic paste in the ingredient list but have not in the preparation part. so, pls clarify

your dishes are huge hits in my home-even my in-laws appreciated me for being a good cook. (one of them, was from ur site- chettinad uppu varuval) thanks for the effort and do keep adding new dishes to ur site…

luv,
priti
- sig
  March 6th, 2010 @ 11:05 am
  Reply
  
  Hi Priti,
  Sorry about that. I have updated the post to correct the mistake now. Thanks for pointing this out and also for the nice words.
  Sig
Aparna
March 7th, 2010 @ 7:52 am
Reply

Long due is right.
This is one way I love egg plant. Do try adding some crushed roasted peanuts just before taking it off the heat. That’s another variation I learnt recently.