Spicy Eggplant-Yennegayi

Like I have told before, eggplants are my favorite and I like to cook them very often. This dish is basically called Yennegayi in North Karnataka and eggplant is cooked in oil with all the spices.

We have to use round eggplants and slit them in the middle into four pieces. But you shouldn’t cut them completely. The paste that we grind need not be fine paste. Two important things to make this dish tasty are oil and chilies. Since the eggplants are cooked in oil and spicy paste filling, it will be tender and spicy. I love this dish with rice and yogurt. 

This dish can be made in various styles. My mom uses fried gram dhal instead of peanuts and some of you might cut the eggplants long and cook in water with less oil to make it like gravy. Another method would be, you can deep-fry the eggplants and then do the filling.

Well my version is more like Andhra style, as I learnt this dish from a friend of mine who is from Hyderabad, India.

Ingredients:

8-10 round small Eggplants

5-6 green/ red chilies

2 teaspoons of chopped garlic

1 cup finely chopped onion

1/2 onion

1 cup of peanuts

4 cloves

1/2" cinnamon stick

1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds

1/2 teaspoon mustard

2 cups of grated dry coconut

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

1/4 teaspoon of tamarind paste

1 teaspoon crushed jaggery

2 teaspoon Dhania powder

1/2 teaspoon chilly powder

10 curry leaves

1 cup of cilantro

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup vegetable oil

-Roast peanuts and keep it aside.

-Roast clove, cinnamon, chilies, poppy seeds, garlic, 1/2 onion, salt and coconut with 1/2 teaspoon oil.

-Grind all the roasted ingredients along with tamarind, jaggery, dhania powder, chilli powder and turmeric powder in a blender and make it paste by adding little water.

-Take the eggplants, which are cut into slits and fill the paste into it.

-Heat a pan with a cup of oil, add mustard and curry leaves. Once they splutter add onions and fry them until golden brown.

-Place the eggplant filled with paste into the pan one by one.

-Keep turning the eggplant to cook on either side and until turns brown.

-Add the remaining paste and little water depending on the consistency of the gravy and close the lid. (Water can be avoided if you want it to be cooked only in oil)

-Cook it with low flame until the oil gets separated from eggplant.

-Garnish with cilantro.

Serve it hot with roti’s, chapathi or rice.