Sauteed eggplant in cilantro-ginger gravy

-
Eggplant in cilantro gravy
Eggplant in cilantro gravy

This is one dish that definitely took its time to get into my list of most-loved. I absolutely love it now, I love it for the soft on the inside crispy on the outside texture of the eggplants. I love it for the smooth creamy pungent flavor of the gravy, and most of all I love it for how absolutely insanely easy it is to make when compared to how impressive it looks when served at a party.
The very first time I tasted this dish at a friends home, however, I did not quite fall in love with it. In fact, it was an affront to my delicate taste buds, which had hiterto been zealously protected from anything bordering on pungent. But the way it often happens, DH loved it and my dear friend gave me the recipe for it and it became a regular at our dinner table and slowly worked its way into my heart. 
And the moral of the story is, if you don't like something the first time, don't give up on it, keep trying it and you may develop a taste for it.

Preparation

Take  about 15-20 tiny eggplants and make a cross with a knife, taking care to leave the stall intact. Drop them into a bowl of water.

Leave the slit eggplants immersed in water and heat some oil in a saucepan

Drain the eggplants thoroughly and drop them into the hot oil

Leave the eggplants on a low flame, and allow to cook, stirring occasionally.  In the meantime collect ingredients for the cilantro gravy. You will need two bunches of cilantro, 3 green chillies and a half inch piece of ginger

Place them all in a blender jar with about 5 teaspoons of. Water and blend until smooth



Once the eggplants are soft and break easily with a spatula (one trick I learned from my friend is to check just below the stalk), its time to put the cilantro paste in


Cover with a lid and let it cook for around 5 minutes till the sauce thickens and coats the eggplants

Delicious eggplant in cilantro gravy is ready.


Goes well with tortillas, chappati, naan or steaming hot white rice

Click here for the printable

Comments

Post a Comment

I love hearing from you. Please leave a comment below.

Popular posts from this blog

Pasta with vermicelli noodles (semiya)

-
Image
Most weekdays see me getting up really early at the crack of dawn to savor the fresh air,  and the peace that comes with solitude.  I  have to admit, though, that I  have never yet  managed to get up earlier than my Neighbors.  One would imagine,  that if one got up a quarter of an hour before sunrise,  one would be entitled to get up to the sounds of birdsong,  but no, I seem to live in a street of impossibly early risers.  I generally get up to the sounds of dishes being washed and of yards being swept all around me. Yet,  I  like to get up at this early hour and having gone through my ablutions and my  prayers, (just saying that links my soul somehow to all the men and women of all the ages past who did that very same thing,) sit down with a nice cup of tea by myself before the rest of the household wakes up,  and I have to get into the daily grind. Weekends,  however bring out all the latent spirit of 'la dolce vita'  in me. I get up far after the sun has gotten tired of
Read more

Healthy Bhel/marmara/puffed rice salad

-
Image
DH is an absolute health food freak. He is far more happier if I give him a bowl of sprouted mung beans with a little lemon juice drizzled on top, than with all the exotic creations I slave for hours over. Whereas I am a junk food junkie, In my husbands own words, "I can literally live on pizza and potato chips." Many a time it's a clash between health and taste for me. And, though it makes things much easier for me generally to cook healthy, I really miss the crunch and taste of snacks like, say bhel? So here I came up with a healthy recipe for bhel/marmara/puffed rice mix. The original version is made with, tomatoes, onions and cilantro. I skipped the tomatoes, added oranges, apples, carrots and sprouted mung beans to the mix, making it much more healthier. This recipe is going to Divya's Dil se's 'show me your salad event'. http://divya-dilse.blogspot.com/2010/01/show-me-your-salad.html My very first entry to a food blogging event Healthy bhel/puffed r
Read more

Happy new year! Looking ahead with top 10 new recipes to try list

-
Image
There was this family tradition we followed since I was a kid, and which me and my husband have continued with our children too and that is to cut a cake and eat it so we eat something sweet to welcome the new year.It has always been our my fond hope and belief that in so doing we are ensuring sweetness and joy for each and every moment for the rest of the new year. Optimistic much?? I guess so!!  Idealistic?? Definitely Surely in all the twenty plus years, of  carrying on this tradition, even I, a self styled incurable romantic and stubborn idealist should have realized that this trick doesn’t work, that you cannot bribe the fates with cake, that every year will bring its share of joys and sorrow, and as thousands of  internet memes going around, and the cynic in me say,  “ A new year is just a change in date and no big deal. Circumstances don’t drastically change because it’s a new year, and the resolutions (making resolutions on new years is so passé) can be made at any tim
Read more