E for Eggplant in Coconut Gravy

Eggplant is my favorite vegetable and I can have it for all my meals. I never understood why some people don’t like it, but I guess I am heavily biased toward it. If I have to do an A-Z of vegetables, it’ll probably look like this:

A for Aubergine (German, UK)
B for Baingan (Hindi)
E for Eggplant (US)
K for Katharikai (Tamil)
M for Makhua (Malaysia)
T for Terong (Thai)
V for Vankaya (Telugu) and so on.

So it shouldn’t be a surprise if I submit “E for Eggplant in coconut gravy” for Nupur’s A-Z of Indian Vegetables series. I used Japanese eggplants, the skinny long ones. They taste sweeter than the large round eggplants.

Ingredients:
Japanese eggplants – 3, cut into match sticks
Red onions – 1 medium, thinly sliced
Green chilies – 3, chopped
Ginger – ½ tsp, minced
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped fine
Tomatoes – 2 ripe or ¼ cup tomato puree
Curry powder – 1 tsp
Coconut milk (light) – ½ cup
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Salt – to taste
Method:

• Heat a large non stick skillet, sauté the eggplant pieces in 1 tsp oil until nicely browned on all sides. I used non-stick spray and worked in batches so that the skillet is not crowded and all the pieces are browned evenly. Remove and keep aside.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in the same skillet, add onions, chilies, ginger and garlic and sauté till the onions are lightly browned.
• Add turmeric, tomatoes, curry powder and red chili powder, cover and cook till the tomatoes get mushy (or until the tomato puree doesn’t smell raw anymore).
  
• Add the fried eggplant pieces and 1 cup of water (use less if you don’t want your gravy to be runny), cover and cook for 5 -7 minutes until the eggplant pieces soak up the spices.
• Add coconut milk, salt and cook for about 3 more minutes. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve with steaming hot rice.
  

Rice with Eggplant Curry and Lemon-Ginger pickle (Priya)

Soy Flakes Masala Curry

This is another one of those recipes I jotted down in my little trusty diary during my India trip. I couldn’t find soy flakes in India grocery here, so I bought 2 boxes from India. This recipe goes really well with rotis and chapathis.

Ingredients:
Soy Flakes – 1 cup
Onion – 1 small, chopped
Tomatoes – 2 ripe, chopped
Green chilies – 3
Ginger + Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Coconut (dry or fresh) – 2 tbsp
Poppy seeds (Khus khus) – 2 tbsp
Red chili powder – ½ tsp
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Grind coconut and poppy seeds with water into a smooth paste.
  
• Soak soy flakes in 2-3 cups of hot water until ready to use.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, sauté onions till lightly browned. Add ginger-garlic paste and sauté for a minute.
  
• Add green chilies, tomatoes, coconut paste, cook covered till the tomatoes are tender.
• Drain soy flakes, squeeze out the extra water and add to the tomato mixture along with red chili powder and salt. Sprinkle water if the gravy is too dry.
  

We had our soy masala curry with jowar roti (thanks to Shilpa for the easy jowar roti recipe) and pesarapappu charu. Healthy and delicious meal.

D for Dal Moghlai

This is my entry to Nupur’s A-Z of Indian vegetables series. Dal is the quintessential comfort food for all Indians. Be it the tangy-spicy sambar or plain old tadka dal, no Indian thali is complete without dal. This recipe is from Tarla Dalal’s recipe newsletter. I love my lentils and make sure that I make a big pot of dal (like soup) every weekend that will last at least 2-3 days. That way all I have to worry about during weeknights is making a subzi (curry) and rice.

Ingredients:
Toor dal – ¾ cup
Chana dal – ¼ cup
Bottle gourd (doodhi/ lauki/ sorakaya) – 2 cups, peeled and chopped into big pieces
Tomatoes – 1 cup, chopped
Turmeric – ¼ tsp
Onion – ¾ cup, chopped
Garlic – 2 cloves, chopped fine
Ginger – 1 tsp, minced
Green chilies – 5
Salt – to taste

Method:

• Clean, wash and soak the dals for about 30 minutes. Drain.
  
• Add the tomatoes, bottle gourd, turmeric, salt and 3 cups water to the dals and pressure cook till the dals are tender.
  
• Heat 2 tsp oil in a pan, add cumin seeds and when the seeds crackle, add the ginger, garlic, green chilies and onions and sauté till the onions are golden brown in color.
  
• Add the cooked dal and 1 cup water to the onions and bring to a boil.
  

Serve with steaming hot rice for a wholesome meal.

Tofu & Vegetables in Black bean sauce

This is a vegetarian version of lovely Barbara of Tigers & Strawberries Peng’s Home style Bean-curd recipe. I had some baked tofu left over from this dish, that I made earlier, in the fridge. You can use extra firm tofu or baked tofu for this recipe.

Ingredients:

Extra firm tofu – 16 oz. package, drained, chopped into bite size pieces

Mixed vegetables – 2 cups (carrots, peppers, mushroom, snow peas, onions, celery etc – I used frozen snow pea stir fry blend)

Black bean sauce – 2 tbsp
Red chili flakes – 1 tsp
Ginger – 1 tsp
Garlic – 2 cloves, finely chopped
Soy sauce (low sodium) – 3 tbsp
Sesame oil – 1 tsp
Corn flour – 2 tsp (mixed in ¼ cup water to make a slurry)

Method:

• Fry tofu in little bit of oil, so that the pieces are lightly browned evenly on all sides. Remove and keep aside. Skip this step if using baked tofu.
  
• Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or large pan, add ginger, garlic and chili flakes. Stir fry for 30 seconds.
  
• Add the vegetables and black bean sauce; stir fry till the veggies are crisp tender, about 7-10 minutes.
  
• Add soy sauce, corn flour slurry and 1 cup water, cook for about 2 minutes until the gravy is thick. Serve with brown rice.

Note: I added black bean sauce to the oil right after ginger and garlic and found out the hard way that its not a very good idea. The sauce hissed and sputtered in the hot oil and all over the stove and counters. So, don't try this at home.