Brinjal | Healthy cooking with Mitha

Even though my kids eat almost everything that I cook ( touchwood!), my 5 year old daughter is slightly choosy when it comes to vegetables. So my mommy brains have to work overtime to make her eat some of the veggies. 😅

Brinjal is a vegetable she won’t eat if I make a regular curry with it (wish I could capture her face and show you all when she hears it’s brinjal curry for dinner 😂). I don’t blame her at all as I myself never used to eat any vegetable as a kid except for a few chosen ones like potato, elephant yam and beetroot. So I can totally understand her. 😃

But once I happened to make these rava fries for a change and she absolutely loved it. So now I make it regularly even as an evening snack. She loves munching on it and I am happy that a healthy vegetable is filling her with nutrition.

Hope you all will try this as well. Happy and healthy cooking! ❤️

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

3 small variety Brinjals or 1 large Purple Brinjal

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

A pinch of Hing or Asafoetida

Salt to taste

1/4 Cup Rava or Semolina (or as needed)

1 tsp Red chilli powder

Step by step recipe:

1. Wash the brinjals well and chop off the stem. Slice brinjals thinly for the rava fry and finely chop for upkari. Add both into separate bowls of water.

2. Now drain water and add Turmeric powder, Hing and salt. Mix well.

3. In a plate, take rava and mix red chilli powder in it. Roll the brinjal slices one by one over the rava mix.

4. Heat tawa and place these onto the tawa. Drizzle coconut oil while cooking both sides on medium flame till it turns brown in colour and the brinjal turns soft.

5. Serve with rice meals.

Notes:

* For Brinjal Upkari, fry about 4 to 5 finely chopped Garlic pods in oil till it turns brown and add finely chopped brinjal to it. Add red chilli powder and salt. Cook till it turns soft. Don’t add water at all.

* For the rava fry, slice brinjals very thinly. It helps them cook easily and also turns crispy.

* You can make this with any variety of brinjals.

After my last post of Vastad rotti (pan fried version of Mangalore Buns), I was reminded of another Konkani delicacy which I used to literally beg my grandmother to make. It is this Vaingana bhajji. She used to make with green brinjals (or gulla in Konkani/Kannada) and it tasted so heavenly that I could eat it as it is without rice.

Since we hardly get green brinjals here, I use purple ones for making Bajji. Also traditionally, the brinjal is roasted over gas or wood fire and then mashed after removing skin. If you have the option, then you can do it too. But since we have an electric cooking range, I boil it in water and mash it. My grandmother did this way too and as Amma says, this is much easier (mothers always want less work for their kids and Amma told me to try this way 😁). Life became easier after that and Bajji became our regular dish when we got fresh brinjals.

We love simple meals and this is an accompaniment which is very flavorful yet very basic. Hope you all try and love it too. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

1 large Purple Brinjal or 2 medium sized Green Brinjal or 3 small purple brinjals (about 2 cups chopped)

1 medium sized Onion, finely chopped

2 to 3 green chillies, finely chopped

1/2 tsp Hing or Asafoetida powder

2 tsp Tamarind paste

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil

Salt to taste

3 Tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Step by step recipe:

1. Take chopped brinjals in a vessel.

2. Add little water and cook till it turns very soft. Water should be absorbed too.

3. Mash the brinjal very well using a masher.

4. Now add chopped onions, green chillies, tamarind pulp, hing, salt and coconut oil.

***I have used pink salt or rock salt or kaala namak here. Hence the colour pink.***

5. Mix well and garnish with coriander leaves.

Serve immediately as an accomplishment with rice meals.

Notes:

* I have made it with all varieties of brinjals and it tastes great with any variety of them.

* Traditionally bhajji is made by roasted over gas or wood fire but my grandmother made this version too and I make this because I don’t have gas stove here (nor wood fire 😅).

* Don’t add a lot of water while cooking the brinjals and make sure the water is absorbed well and brinjal is cooked well too.

* You can skip onions if following satvik diet but onions does add a wonderful bite.

* I usually make this with our Matta rice congee and it tastes heavenly with it.

* With white rice and rasam, bhajji makes an excellent accompaniment.