"VoW -Brinjal" ,2 quick curries with Lovely Eggplant and Brinjals

Brinjal- Its a only veggie which comes in different variety , sizes , color and tastes. I like it for that. though if I try being more true then I must say I love it coz in any form it cooks too quickly and the final dish of it always results in one delicious taste. This Rich with Fiber , iron and manganese vegetable has many benefits of consuming it directly or indirectly .

"Its fiber content is high, which helps our digestive process and also acts against coronary heart disease. Eggplants not only feature a number of vitamins, proteins and minerals but also contain important phytonutrients. These phytonutrients are known to act as antioxidant. In phytonutrients found in eggplants, there are phenolic compounds, such as caffeic and chlorogenic acid, and flavonoids, like nasunin. Potassium in eggplants brings a balance in salt intake and maintains a nice level of hydration. It also plays a role in regulating blood pressure. Eggplants also contain folate, magnesium and niacin as well as copper, manganese and thiamine (vitamin B1). " Check out more here and here . I am sure checking its benefits will make you eat it , even if you didn't like it till now :) , so please have a look at them and do a favor to yourself and health :k.

Ringan methi nu Shaak(Chinese eggplant with fenugreek curry) is a traditional curry of our Gujarati home . It goes nice with Rotla specially in winter days, although it has a versatile taste which can go along very well with any Paratha , Roti , Puri or Chapati . Needless to say this dish creates a magical taste when combining with the fresh fenugreek and garlic. I loved this shaak even when as a child I refused to eat any other curry with brinjal/eggplant.
Here is the simple Recipe to make it .

Ingredients:
3-4 chinese eggplant
1 bunch of fresh fenugreek (Methi) leaves (almost 1/5 cups when chopped ) ,
2-3 garlic cloves minced finely or chopped lengthwise.
2 tsp oil ,
1/2 tsp mustard seeds,
1 tsp cumin seeds,
1/2 tsp turmeric powder ,
1 tsp red chilie powder ,
a pinch of asafoetida powder ,
salt to taste .

Method:
Wash and cut the eggplant in about 1 cm long cubes like pieces, keep them in a vessel filled with water until you add it to curry , otherwise it will start changing its color to brown . Pluck methi leaves and wash them throughly , then roughly chop them .
In a pan or Kadhai heat 2 tsp oil, when little hot add mustard seeds to it, when they start spluttering add cumin seeds, minced garlic and asafoetida powder to it , immediately after that add drained eggplant cubes. Mix well and let it cook on medium heat until eggplant is half cooked.
Chinese eggplant among all other varieties of eggplant takes least time to cook , for this it should be somewhere between 2 to 3 minutes to get it half cooked.










Next add cut fenugreek leaves and turmeric powder to it , mix all well and let them cook for few more minute until you can check the aroma of cooked fenugreek. Chopped fenugreek will leave some liquid ,which should be cooked till all of it evaporates. check the eggplant piece by its softness to see if they are totally cooked . Finally add red chilie powder and salt , mix it well cook for another minute and turn of the heat.
Serve hot with anything you like . Serve hot with Roti, Paratha or Thepla .
It normally takes around 10 minutes to cook this aromatic curry of eggplant and Fenugreek. Don't miss using Garlic to it, its the heart of wholesome taste of this dish.

A slight variation to this dish I tried sometimes when I find the brinjals little stiff .
Stiff brinjals normally taste little bitter, to remove its bitterness I make it using fairly nice amount of coriander leaves to it.

A quick baingan is the dish which I normally make using only brinjals, and then I garnish with coriander .
I make the same dish little different way when I am little skeptical about brinjal being bitter in taste .

To make for 2 people

Ingredients :
5-6 Brinjals, cut into cubes.
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves.
1/2 tsp each mustard seeds , cumin seeds , red chilie powder
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
salt to taste ,
1-2 tsp oil .

Method:
Use nonstick flat bottomed pan to cook it fast.
In a pan take oil I use around 1.5 tsp oil. while cooking initially it will seems little less , but as brinjal will be cooked they shrink in size and that will be sufficient to cook it all . You can choose to use it as per your taste little more or less.
When oil is hot add mustard seeds and cumin seeds to it, add turmeric powder and immediately add brinjal cubes to it.










Mix it all well ,and let it cook for a while till brinjal turns soft . Then add chopped coriander leaves to it. Initially it seems too much of coriander leaves , but as it will start mixing to brinjal it will shrink to 1/4 then its original size , and you will see too less of it . This is what gives this dish a nice taste and turns bitterness of brinjal into a nice taste when combining with coriander. Turn off the hear after cooking together for a minute . Serve hot with hot Roti . I like it accompanied with curd/yogurt.
Normally it happens that if you find brinjals having little hard seeds or seeds of brown/black colored , it tastes not such good. So this is how this another dish is discovered to make them tastier when I don't think that the simple brinjal will make a good curry for me.
If you have good quality of brinjals , go ahead and try this without adding coriander to it, you will love it that way too :L.
I tried it once and then i liked it so much that way , that i made it many times again since then , even when brinjal were soft and not having any bitterness in it :D , believe me it is the Quickest curry I ever know :z, so I like it even more ;) .

A soup with Eggplant is coming tomorrow :~ .
Would you like to join in the celebration of Brinjals with me ??? Stay tuned to check more of eggplant on this week from me , and if you have any dish with 'brinjal /eggplant' send it to me before 15th March and be a part of "VoW-Brinjal" :) .
To check more details about "Vegetable of the Week "click on the logo in the side bar .