Spicyana

Stuffed eggplant

The vegetable eggplant rarely held a good standing in the household I grew up, it was almost always the purple floating object in a sambar or an ingredient in a last minute stir fry, except for a limited number of occasions when my mother made a pretty decent curry with lots of coconut milk added. But to get a feel of how interesting this vegetable can be when used properly in a recipe, I had to wait for a couple of more years till the day I tasted Baingan Bharta for the first time in a Mumbai restaurant. It was rich creamy and mildly fragrant, pleasantly different from any of the eggplant dishes I ever tasted. I buy Indian egg plant very often these days, and I am hooked for life to a stuffed egg plant recipe of Indira’s, and now I even have a recipe of my own! Well, it uses the same elements my mother uses in the curry I mentioned; only that the ingredients are stuffed inside the eggplant, and baked. To make this you will need Indian eggplants of medium size. It is as easy as scooping the flesh out, sautéing with spices and onions, refilling the shells and baking.

Indian eggplant –4 nos
Chopped onions – ½ cup
Ginger paste- ½ tsp
Chopped garlic- 1 tsp
Thick coconut milk – 1 ½ tbsp
Chopped green chilly skins (I used jalapeno)- 1 tsp
Curry leaves, chopped fine – 3
Red chilly powder – ¼ tsp (adjust according to your taste)
Salt- to taste
Oil (Did I say coconut?)- ½ tsp + ½ tsp for brushing

Split each eggplant horizontally into two halves, scoop out the flesh leaving about 5mm on the shell. Heat ½ tsp oil till smoking hot; add chopped onion, ginger, garlic, green chilies, chopped eggplant flesh and curry leaves. Stir fry for 1 minute. Mix in chilly powder, add salt and coconut milk. Turn of the heat, and let it cool for 5-10 minutes. Fill the eggplant shells with this mixture. Brush with coconut oil and bake at 350 degree in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve hot with rice and a yogurt based curry on the side.

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