Bharwan Baingan aur Khatti dal maat ki bhaji

 The dishes I made today are among my most favourite dishes. They  say anybody you meet will either love eggplant or hate it. Its true!!! There are hardly any people I know who are just 'ok' with eggplant. And whoever loves eggplant loooooves this dish. Make it and see for yourself. This is a stuffed eggplant recipe called bharahuva baingan or bharwan baingan or masala baingan.
                       I am serving the above dish with fluffy white rice and Amaranth leaves and lentils...thotakura pappu pulusu. This is a different recipe from the regular Thotakoora Pappu

Bharwan Baingan (Indian eggplant stuffed with spiced onion paste and shallow fried)

Stuffed eggplant

Ingredients:

1. 6 Indian purple eggplants
2. 1 medium onion
3. 1/2 -1 inch fresh ginger
4. 1/2 teaspoon each of roasted cumin, salt, chilly powder, turmeric, coriander powder
5. 1 teaspoon dry roasted sesame seeds
6. 2 tablespoons dry roasted peanuts
7. 1/2 teaspoon salt
8. 2 tablespoons oil

Grind ingredients 2 to 6 with one or two teaspoons of water into a smooth paste. Wash the eggplants and make two vertical slits in the eggplant reaching about 3/4 length. They would look like a + sign. Heat oil in a wide pan . Stuff the masala into both the slits in the eggplant and drop it in the hot oil. repeat with all the eggplants. Fry on all four sides for  two minutes on each side. Add the remaining masala to the pan and cover and fry for 5-7 minutes. Add the salt and 1/4 cup water and cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the eggplants are tender and oil separates. Garnish with cilantro and serve

Khatti Dal Maat ki Bhaji (Sour lentils and Amaranth leaves)

Khatti Dal Maat ki bhaji

Ingredients:

1. 1 cup toor dal
2. 1 cup maat ki bhaji chopped roughly
3. 1 big tomato chopped
4. 2 cups juice from a small lime sized tamarind
5. 1 green chilly
6. 3/4 teaspoon salt
7. 2 teaspoons oil
8. 1 garlic pod chopped
9. 1/2 teaspoon each cumin, mustard seeds, hing (ajinomoto) (asafetida), turmeric
10. 2 dried red chilies broken
11. few curry leaves

Pressure cook the dal with Amarand leaves and tomato and turmeric for 4 whistles. After all the steam escapes open the cooker and mash the dal. Add the tamarind water and green chillies and bring to a boil. Let it boil for about 10 minutes. Heat the oil in a pan and fry the cumin and mustard seeds and dried red chillies and fry for a couple of minutes. Add garlic, curry leaves and fry for a couple of more minutes. Add hing and fry for a minute. Add this to the dal and boil for 5 minutes. Serve