BHARVA BAINGAN (Stuffed Thai Eggplants)

Hellooo Friends,

It was my mom's birthday yesterday. Had a few guests at home for lunch. Was just wondering how do I set the menu. I'am a Bong, but I didn't wish to have a typical Bengali menu, because of the obvious reason that I wished to break free from monotony. I think it happens often, especially in India, that our guests are left without any excitement about the kind of food we would serve them, because the menu becomes so predictable, sticking to our respective regional cuisines.. As such I wished to try something different. And amongst all that I prepared, BHARVA BAINGAN, or stuffed eggplant curry became a surprising hit. Of course, I didn't follow any set recipe. And instead of the traditional baby eggplants used in this recipe, I used the skinny Thai eggplants, & made a curry instead of keeping it dry, since I knew my guests love curries. So friends, here goes the recipe.

Ingredients:

7 skinny Thai Eggplants, 2 medium Potatoes, ½ tsp Carom seeds, ½ tsp Cumin seeds, ½ tsp Coriander seeds,1/2 tsp Fennel seeds, 2 cloves of Garlic, 1 tsp Garam masala powder (a mix of large cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, black pepper & nutmeg), 1 tsp Dried Mango powder (amchur powder)4-5 tbsp Chickpea Flour, 1 bunch of fresh Coriander, paste of 1 medium Onion, puree of 1 medium Tomato, Paste of 3 Green Chilies, 1 tsp Red chili powder, 1 tsp Turmeric powder, Refined oil, Salt to taste.

Procedure:

Boil the potatoes & mash them. Roast together garlic, coriander, cumin, fennel & carom seeds in low flame. Be careful not to burn them. Keep stirring continuously. When they start releasing the aroma, take them off the flame & grind into a fine powder. Add this aromatic powder into the mashed potatoes, along with amchur powder, salt & ½ tsp red chili powder. Mix it properly. Keep 1/4^th cup of this mixture aside, & the rest we shall use for the eggplant stuffing. Slit the skinny Thai eggplants lengthwise, leaving just 1 ½ or 2 cm uncut at the bottom. Now stuff the eggplants with little portions of the potato mixture. Meanwhile, add enough water to the chickpea flour to make a thick batter. Add salt & turmeric powder, & mix well. This will be our coating for the stuffed eggplants. Now smear the eggplants with this batter. Take special care to cover the slit parts of the eggplants with extra batter so that the stuffing doesn't come out while deep frying. Next, heat oil in a deep frying pan. Drop in the eggplants, maximum three at a time. Fry in low flame. Otherwise, the coating will get burnt, but the eggplants won’t be cooked properly. Now for the curry, heat 3 tbsp oil. Add ½ tsp cumin seeds & ½ tsp fennel seeds. When the seeds begin to splutter, pour in the onion paste & fry till golden. Add tomato puree, turmeric powder, chili paste, red chili powder, salt & 1/4^th cup of the potato mixture that we kept aside earlier. Fry for another 1 minute. Finally pour 5 cups of water & bring to a boil. When the curry comes to a boil, add the garam masala powder. Finally, carefully drop in the stuffed eggplants. Cook for not more than 1 minute. Or else the eggplants might become too soft & break. Garnish with fresh coriander. This recipe tastes best with plain steamed rice.