Thursday, August 02, 2007

Eggplant Curry

Eggplant ia fruit which we use as a vegetable. When buying eggplant, look for heavy, firm fruit with clean dark skin without much marks. The ones with fewer seeds inside are less bitter. They come is different sizes and colour. I have used the large pear shaped eggplants with dark purple-black colour usually available in the super markets.






Ingredients

Eggplant - 1 medium sized
Tomatoes - 2 medium
onion - 1 medium
Ginger - 1 small piece
garlic- 3-4cloves
green chilli- 2
Musturd seeds, cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp each
curry pdr - 1 tsp
salt to taste
ghee/oli - 3 tsp

Method

  1. Cut the eggplant length wise(1 inch). Sprinkle salt and put it in a colander. Put a heavy pan over the eggplant and let it sit for 1/2 hr. We can see the water collected at the bottom. discard this water.


  2. Cut the onion and tomatoes finelyand keep it aside. Make g3 paste.


  3. In a pan add 2 tsp ghee. Add musturd seeds and cumin seeds. When it spluters add the onions and g3 paste. Fry till light brown.


  4. Add the eggplant and fry it again. Sprinkle little water.


  5. When it is half cooked add the tomatoes, curry pdr and salt to taste and cook it in low flame for 8-10 mnts.


  6. Garnish with coriander leaves and pour a tsp ghee over the dish just before serving.

Cauliflower Red Beans Curry

This a very last minute side dish . Cauliflower should be always cooked very carefully since overcooking tends to let out a bad smell. Also the curry tends to be very mushy. So when ever I cook cauliflower I soak in boiling water instead of directly boiling in water and let rest of the cooking in the end. Also the red beans and cauliflower is a good combination.





Ingredients


Cauliflower - 2 cups(florets)
Red beans - 1/2 cup
Onion -1
Tomato - 2 medium
Coriander pdr - 1 tsp
Amchur pdr - 1 tsp
ginger - medium piece
green chillies - 2
salt to taste
Ghee - 2 tsp

Method

Soak the red beans for 4-6 hrs. pressure cook it adding little salt.


Boil water . Add salt and put the floretts . let it sit for 7-8 mnts. Then drain it.


Grind the ginger and green chillies into paste.


In a pan add 2 tsp ghee. Add the cut onions and fry it. Add ggpaste and cauliflower to it. Fry it till a light brown coating appears on the cauliflower. Add the coriander and amchur pdr and tomatoes. Add 1/4 cup water and cook it in medium flame covering it 3/4th for 5-7 mnts. Add salt if necessary.


Garnish it with corianderleaves or parsely.