Aish Cooks

Indian Eggplant Masala ~ Simple eggplant curry with onions, tomatoes and ground spices

The other day when I was chatting up with my sis-in-law, she suggested that I post more of the simple/ordinary dishes that we cook up on a regular basis as well. That sure got me thinking about the many common-fare vegetable curries that make their rounds at family meals quite regularly, and how the thought of blogging about them never quite occurred to me. So what got this blog to happen? Well, this dish can quite easily make your dinner taste awesome. And eggplants happen to photograph beautifully!!

If you don’t cook very frequently with eggplant, do go ahead and pick yourself a few of these gorgeous purple veggies the next time you see them, and it does not have to be the Indian eggplant/brinjal, the large regular eggplants work well with this recipe too. Do remember – they don’t stay purple for very long, as the cooked eggplant turns greenish in color. So admire them while you still can and then get cooking!

Indian Eggplant Masala

Cooking Time: Approx. 40 minutes | Serves: 4 – 6

Ingredients:

1. 14-16 medium sized Indian variety brinjals or 2 large eggplants, stalk removed and cut into 2″ cubes
2. 2-4 tbsp cooking oil
3. 1 tsp mustard seeds
4. 1 tbsp urad seeds
5. 1/4 tsp asafoetida (hing)
6. few curry leaves (dried or fresh)
7. 1 medium onion, chopped fine
8. 2 tomatoes, chopped fine
9. 1/2 tsp ground turmeric (haldi)
10. 1 tbsp ground coriander (dhaniya)
11. 1 tsp red chili powder (or to taste)
12. salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, add the mustard, urad seeds and curry leaves.
2. Let the mustard seeds pop (to prevent the urad seeds from burning, add the mustard and urad only when the oil is hot so you don’t have to wait very long for the popping).
3.  Add the chopped onions, asafoetida and some salt to help cook the onions faster.
4. Cook on med heat until the onions start turning golden brown.
5. Add the cut eggplant and tomatoes, along with all the ground spices (turmeric, coriander, chili powder). Add more salt if needed.
6. Combine the spices and the vegetables together.
7. Cook with lid on for 10-15 minutes on medium heat , stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes are mushy and the eggplant is almost cooked. The quantity reduces by almost half.
8. Cook without the lid for another 10 minutes, stirring every once in a while to prevent burning, until the mixture is dry and dark.
9. Turn off the heat and serve with hot rice and yogurt or a simple dal/ rasam side!