Muvva Vankaya Kura (Baby Eggplant Curry)

I'm always looking for new eggplant recipes and when I find a new recipe, I try to make as soon as I can :-) This muvva vankaya (muvva=pearl vankaya=eggplant) curry recipe is from a Telugu cooking show that I duly noted down in my recipe diary. Valli already made the same dish few months back.

We rarely get really small baby eggplants here, so it took me a while to get to this recipe. But luckily my mom found some beautiful baby eggplants at the Indian grocery a month back and I made this curry right away (so it has been sitting in the drafts for  while :-)).

There is no stuffing or grinding involved in this dish and is quite easy to make. It is basically eggplants cooked in spicy onion-tomato gravy. It tastes good with rice and roti.

Ingredients: Serves 4

Baby Eggplants - 10~12

Onion -1 large, finely chopped

Tomatoes - 2 medium, finely chopped

Ginger+garlic paste - 1tsp

Green Chilies - 2, slit

Ground Coriander - 1tsp

Ground Cumin - ½tsp 

Turmeric - ¼tsp 

Red Chili powder - ½~1tsp (adjust as per taste)
Cilantro - 2tbsp, finely chopped
Salt - to taste

Method:

• Trim the stems and make a '+' cut on the base. Soak them in salted water.
• Heat 2tbsp oil, add the chopped onions, green chilies, ginger+garlic paste and cook till the onions are lightly browned around the edges.
• Add the eggplants, cover and cook till they are tender.
• Now add the chopped tomatoes, ground coriander, cumin, turmeric, red chili powder and salt. Cook till the tomatoes turn mushy. Add water if the curry looks too dry.
• Serve with rice or roti.

Linking this to Valli's 'Cooking from Cookbook Challenge: October -- Week 1'.