Bharwa Baingan/ Stuffed Brinjal

I was never a brinjal fan. In fact till few years back , I used fish them out from  curries and keep it aside !! On the other hand, when it comes to certain things I just love baingan. Baingan bhartha, brinjal fry and then this bharva baigan are few of my favourites. I guess roasting and frying takes this veggie to a new level and it might be hard to dislike it even for someone who hates this veggie as such.

Usually the English brinjal variety is quite big and is called aubergine and doesn’t taste good like the brinjal but me being sluggish still pick those to make my chopping easier. Few weeks back when I saw this super fresh brinjals in our local Indian shop I couldn’t resist picking it up and they looked perfect for stuffing. I rang up my friend  A who makes super yummy bharwa baingan for her recipe and with few modifications of my own I made her bharwa baingan for our dinner and one super easy bharwa baingan was ready in about 30-40 minutes !!

Ingredients

Small brinjals -6

For masala

Shallots/ cheriya ulli – 4-5  or 1 medium sized onion( finely chopped)

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder- ½ tsp

Coriander powder/ malli podi – 1 ½ tsp

Garlic cloves – 2 (crushed)

Besan powder / kadala mavu – 1 tbs

Salt

Method

• In a small pan/ kadai add little oil and sauté the chopped onions until soft and translucent
• Add chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder and fry for a minute and switch off the flame.
• Grind it in a blender to a paste.
• Add crushed garlic, salt, besan to the paste and mix well.
• Make two deep slits on brinjal (like a cross) from bottom keeping the stalk intact.
• Take each brinjal and stuff it with the masala paste through the slits.
• In a non -stick  frying  pan or thick bottomed pan add oil and shallow fry the stuffed brinjal on a very low flame by covering it for 20-25 minutes by  flipping the sides in between.

Serve hot with rice/ roti !