Achaari Baingan

This one is for my love of  eggplants, and it is taken from Ashwini’s Food For Thought.Try out this and i must say you’ll fall in love with this.Thank you dear Ashwini.

Ingredients :-

Eggplant diced – 1 large
Cumin seeds (Jeerakam)- 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds (Perumjeerakam) – 1 tsp
Nigella/Kalonji – 1/2 tsp
Tomatoes chopped – 3 medium sized
Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Red Chilly Powder – 1 tsp
Coriander Powder – 1 tbsp
Salt – to taste
Oil – as needed

Method :-

Put the eggplant in a bowl of cold water,wash them and drain the water.Then pat dry them with a towel.
Heat oil in a pan and fry them in medium heat until they turn reddish brown.(Ashwini says that pan frying eggplants doesn’t make much difference in taste,even though the original recipe calls for deep frying method.And I too did pan frying here, following Ashwini.)You can fry them in bataches if the pan cannot hold them together.Drain them into a a tissue paper.

Heat another pan and add little oil into it.When hot,add cumin seeds and allow it to splutter.Now add nigella seeds and fennel seeds and fry for a while.Then add chopped tomato and ginger-garlic paste and saute for a minute.Add coriander powder,turmeric powder,chilly powder and salt and stir well.Cook it for 3-4 minutes
or until gravy thickens.Add the fried eggplant into the gravy and mix gently.Simmer for 1 more minute, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.