Baby Brinjal and Peanut Masala Recipe

I love adding peanuts to stir-fried masala recipes like you would for variety rice recipes like lemon rice and puliogare. The usual suspect that always needs to share the limelight with peanuts is okra. Any time okra masala is made, in go a handful of peanuts.

The other day I got some gorgeous baby brinjals (new-born, even) and had to make something non-fussy and flavourful. Although vatha kozhambu was on the cards, that didn't end up happening so I adapted a quick dry masala recipe for the baby brinjal and peanuts to have a go at each other. I think they like each other. This is a no-onion, no-garlic recipe.

Baby Brinjal and Peanut Masala Recipe 
Serves: 2 

Ingredients:
8-10 baby brinjal
1/2 cup raw unsalted peanuts
1 tbsp coriander powder
1 tsp jeera / cumin seeds
1/4 tsp freshly cracked pepper
A generous pinch of hing / asafoetida
A pinch of turmeric powder
1/4 tsp red chilli powder
A few curry leaves
2 tbsp oil
1/4 tsp mustard seeds
A small piece of tamarind or 1/2 tsp tamarind paste
Salt to taste

How I Made It: 

1. Cut baby brinjal into thin long pieces. I cut each small brinjal into 8 long pieces, lengthwise.

2. Heat oil and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the jeera and curry leaves. Once the jeera sizzles and turns a darker share of brown, add the hing and fry for 5 seconds.

3. Now throw in the cut brinjal pieces and the peanuts. Mix well until well coated in the oil. Reduce flame and cook partially covered until the brinjal is soft yet cooked and the peanuts are sufficiently roasted. This should take about 12-15 mins. Sprinkle water if necessary but don't add too much.

4. Now add the turmeric, red chilli powder, coriander powder and the tamarind and mix well until well combined. Cook for another 3-4 mins, add salt, and remove from fire. Serve hot with steamed rice and any curry of choice.

Andhra Peanut Chutney Recipe

A friend, Indy, has been asking for a Peanut Chutney recipe for ages now. I do make it now and then but its mostly my own version, peanuts often added to give it some texture or when I don't have enough coconut to make a plain coconut chutney. 

 I wanted to give her the Andhra peanut chutney recipe and I wanted to make it first to see it tasted good enough to share. I took inspiration from both Sailu and Indira but preferred to keep my chutney more dry than watery. The consistency its totally up to you but onto the recipe now. 

Andhra Peanut Chutney Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients:

1 cup raw, unsalted peanuts

5-6 dry red chillies (adjust to taste)

3 flakes of garlic (or 1/2 tsp garlic paste)

3 shallots, sliced (or use 1 small onion)

A marble-sized piece of tamarind (or 3/4 tsp tamarind paste)

1 tsp oil

For tempering:

1 tsp oil

1/4 tsp mustard seeds

1/4 tsp urad dal / split black gram

1/4 tsp channa dal / Bengal gram

1/4 tsp cumin seeds / jeera

A pinch of hing / asafoetida

A few curry leaves (optional)

How I Made It:

1. Roast the peanuts in a dry skillet until brown and the skin starts to peel off - about 10 mins or so. Once cool, you can rub them between your palms and remove the skin but I kept them on. 

2. Heat 1 tsp oil and roast the shallots/onions, red chillies and garlic. Once they are browned, remove and set aside to cool. 

3. Once the peanuts and the shallot mixture cool completely, grind to a smooth paste with the tamarind (fresh or paste) with about 1 tbsp of water. If you want a watery chutney, soak the tamarind in 1/4 cup water (extract juice, discard pulp) and use this for grinding. Add salt. Remove and set aside in a bowl. 

4. Heat oil for tempering. Add all ingredients under the list and when the mustard seeds pop and the dals turn golden brown, remove from fire and dunk into the ground chutney. Mix well. 

I served this with rice and vatha kozhambu. If you make the watery version, it goes well with dosa and idli too. 

Hyderabad Style Bagara Baingan Recipe - Step by Step

I am getting increasingly lazy these days. I feel like I have lost the mojo to try out new stuff with as much frequency as I used to or click pictures with as much interest. I have about 4 food photography basics posts in my drafts just lying there because I have to edit and upload pictures to go as examples with the posts. I also haven't been visiting as many blogs as I used to and my unread blogs list on reader just keeps getting longer and longer.

I made this Bagara Baingan ages ago. Its loosely based on a recipe I saw in a Nita Mehta book at the library. I didn't borrow it so made this based on what I could remember from her recipe. The amount of ingredients are all my own approximation but it turned out very tasty, a perfect combo with roti, pulao or biryani (like they serve it in Hyderabad).

Ok now for the step by step. First, dry roast about 2 tbsp of white sesame seeds / til / ellu until golden brown. Set aside.

Then, dry roast 2 tbsp peanuts until roasted and brown. Mine was raw and unsalted so if you are going to use the salted kind, then make sure you keep that in mind while adding salt to the final dish. Set aside.

Next, heat 1 tbsp oil in the same kadai and throw in the washed and slit baby brinjal. We are using the same kind used for ennai kathirikkai kuzhambu. Fry until soft and set aside.

In the same oil, add 1 onion, chopped fine.

To this, add a 1" piece ginger and 2 garlic pods ground together. Alternately, add 2 tsp readymade ginger garlic paste.

While you let that fry, grind the sesame and peanuts with 2 tbsp grated coconut to a smooth paste.

Which looks like this. Yes, you can add a little bit of water while grinding.

By now, the onions would have started to brown. Add the ground paste and mix well.

To this, add 1/4 tsp turmeric powder, 1 tsp jeera, 1 tbsp coriander powder and 1-2 tsp red chilli powder, with salt.

Mix well and stir for a minute until the paste thickens.

I know this looks kinda gross so let's quickly get this over with. Add the tamarind water made with a small lemon sized ball of tamarind and 1 cup warm water. Ok next step, quick!

*Please ignore the stains on my stove. They are from a dish I made just before this. Thank you*

Ah, not so bad once its mixed. So mix well and then..

.. add the fried baby brinjal.

Cook closed for 5-10 mins until the gravy thickens.

Serve warm with a garnish of chopped coriander leaves. This tasted really really good and I really think I should make more curries with roasted peanut paste as the base. The sesame really helps enhance the taste too!

I am too lazy to type the recipe again!

The recipe, all in one place now (sigh..)

Bagara Baingan Recipe

Serves: 2

What I Used:

6 purple baby brinjals

2 tbsp white sesame seeds

2 tbsp peanuts

2 tbsp grated coconut

1 onion, chopped fine

1" piece of ginger

2 garlic pods (or 2 tsp ginger garlic paste)

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

1 tbsp coriander powder/malli podi

1 tsp red chilli powder (or to taste)

A small lemon sized ball of tamarind

1 tbsp oil

Salt

Fresh coriander leaves for garnish

How I Made It:

1. Dry roast the peanuts and sesame seeds separately until golden brown. Set aside to cool. Then, grind together with the coconut and little water to form a smooth paste.

2. Extract the tamarind paste in 1 cup warm water. Grind the ginger and garlic together if using fresh gg paste.

3. Fry the brinjals in oil until soft but still holds shape. Drain and set aside. In the same oil, fry the onions and ginger garlic paste until golden. Then add the ground paste and fry for a minute.

4. To this, add turmeric powder, chilli powder, jeera, coriander powder and salt. Mix well and fry for another minute.

5. Add the tamarind water, mix, then add the brinjals and cook closed for 5-10 mins. Garnish with fresh coriander leaves before serving.

Ranjani made a video of this recipe so if you want to check it, click here.

Recipe for Tofu in Peanut Butter Sauce

This is probably the easiest dish I have tried out in the recent past. It requires no grinding, no chopping (unless you count cubing tofus as 'chopping'), no frying, its ultra super simple and you end up with a creamy side dish for your roti or rice in no time.

I made this for dinner a couple of weeks back, which explains the extra 'warm' pictures under artificial lighting. I wasn't sure if TH would like it since he doesn't like peanut sauces and gravies like they use in gado-gado much (but loves peanut butter, yeah, men are weird no?).

He ended up saying "this is not bad at all" so I guess if you like peanuts then this one will be a winner for you too.

Tofu in Peanut Butter Sauce

Nags' Original Recipe

Serves: 2

What I Used:

1 block firm or silken tofu - cubed

3 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp vinegar

2 tsp minced garlic

2 tsp minced ginger

1 tbsp oil

1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Salt and pepper

Water

Fresh parsley/coriander/spring onions

How I Made It:

1. Make a loose paste with the peanut butter, soya sauce, vinegar, sugar, and some water.

2. In a pan, heat the oil and add the cubed tofu. Fry lightly (if using firm tofu, otherwise go on to the next step).

3. Add the minced ginger and garlic and fry until the flavour comes out and the kitchen smells really good.

4. Add the peanut butter sauce and mix well, coating the tofu pieces completely. Add about 1 cup water and cook covered for 5 mins on very low fire.

5. The dish will keep getting dry because of the peanut butter so keep adding required water to keep it saucy.

6. After 5 minutes, make sure consistency is right for you by adding enough water and bring to boil. Remove from fire, add salt and pepper to taste and garnish with chopped fresh cilantro/parsley or spring onions. Be careful when you add salt since the peanut butter will already have some.

I served this with some simple vegetable rice. I am sure it will go great with roti too.

Variations:

Try replacing tofu with paneer or soya chunks/meal maker. Anything that soaks up the flavours should be a good addition. I am even thinking cubed potatoes. Hmmm.. :)

I am sending this to Culinarty's Original Recipes Event.

Rhengan Reveya Recipe - A Gujarati Specialty!

I bookmark about 3 recipes each day on an average. I end up cooking about 4-5 of them each month, if its a good month, simply because there are way too may of them and just weekends for me to experiment and try out new stuff. But the moment I saw this recipe on Sia's site, I knew I'll be trying it out as soon as I could lay my hands on some good baby aubergines / Indian eggplant aka kathirikkai. I decided to give Little India a shot and I was not disappointed. I picked up some real beauties!

Rhengan Reveya is a traditional Gujarati recipe that is a delicious satay of baby aubergines and baby potatoes marinated in a spicy peanut paste. I have not yet tried peanut-based curries and that made this all the more exciting. Also, aubergines are my weakness, as you can see from the number of aubergine / kathirikkai recipes on this blog :D

Anyway, on to the recipe now.

Rhengan Reveya Recipe

Original recipe inspiration from here
Serves 4

What I Used:
6 baby aubergines / kathirikkai
2 potatoes, cubed (or 8 baby potaoes, halved)

For Spice Powder / Marinade:
1/2 cup peanuts
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2 tsp cumin seeds/ jeera / jeerakam
4 dry red chillies
1 pinch turmeric powder
1/2 tsp amchur / dry mango powder (optional but recommended)
1 tsp sugar
A big pinch of hing / asafoetida / kaayam
1" piece grated ginger
A bunch of coriander leaves, finely chopped
3 tbsp oil
Salt to taste

For Tempering:

2 tsp oil
1 pinch hing / asafoetida / kaayam
A few cumin / jeera seeds

How I Made It:

1. In a wide pan, dry roast peanuts, coriander seeds, jeera seeds, red chillies, hing, turmeric powder and amchur. Grind this to a powder. The oil from the peanuts will make this mixture a bit pasty.

2. Make slits in the brinjal from the bottom until the base of the stem. Make sure you keep the stems intact to make sure the aubergine stays in one piece. Scoop the spice powder into the slits and stuff as much of it in as you can.

3. Once all the aubergines are stuffed, mix this with the cubed potatoes, add the remaining spice powder, ginger, chopped coriander leaves, sugar and salt and keep aside for 10 mins.

4. Heat oil in a pan and add ingredients for tempering. Once the cumin seeds start sizzling, add the aubergine-potato mixture. Add 2 cups boiling water to this, keep fire on medium and cook closed for 5 mins.

5. After 5 mins, mix the vegetables, add more water if needed (the peanuts make this dish quite thick so I added about 1/2 cup water at this stage) and cook again closed for about 15 mins more. Mix in between to ensure uniform cooking, just make sure you don't break the aubergines while mixing.

6. Garnish with more chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with steamed white rice.

Notes

- While picking the baby brinjal, try to make sure they are of somewhat similar sizes. This is to ensure uniform cooking. Remember, we are not chopping them up but cooking them whole!

- Instead of using coriander seeds, jeera seeds the whole red chillies, you can use their powders. This could bring down the flavour, as Sia points out. If you ask me, go with the whole masala and grind them up, its really worth the effort :)

We absolutely loved our Rhengan Reveya and TH is not even a huge fan of peanut-based gravies! We licked our plates and the pan clean during lunch so basically we wiped out what can actually feed four people :D Thanks Sia!

Okra Fry With Peanuts

Ok, I know what you are thinking. After all that hue and cry I made about being an okra-hater and all that, I go ahead and post 3 okra recipes in a span of 2 months. Well, the reason is, its one of the 'Indian' vegetables that I see always in the wet market and end up buying it thinking I can make something passable with it. After all, we both really liked the Okra with Besan curry that I made, TH more so because it resembles usili.

This is a dish I have tried in our office cafe when I was in Hyderabad. I always found it an interesting combination - ladies finger and peanuts. The crunch the peanuts gave to the curry was quite nice and though I wasn't sure what recipe the chef there used, I tried to replicate it the other day and it did come very close in taste.

What I Used:

Okra/ladies finger/vendakka - 15 (number of okras)
Raw shelled peanuts - 3 tbsp
Shallots - 4, chopped
Garlic - 1 tsp, minced (optional, but add for more flavour)
Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tbsp
Curry leaves - a few (optional)

How I Made It:

1. Heat oil in a pan and lightly fry the shallots and garlic. When it starts browning, add the chilli powder and fry for another 10-15 seconds.

2. Now add the okra and peanuts and fry on sim till the okra turns soft and the peanuts are done.

3. Finally, mix the salt and curry leaves in and remove from fire.

Serve with hot rice and some gravy.

Related Posts

Fried Okra with Besan
Vendakka Aviyal
Kovakka Mezhukkupuratti