Friday, December 12, 2008

Broiled Eggplant chutney

Broiled / Grilled / barbecued eggplant chutney is an interesting dish to make. My mom used to prepare this simple delicacy often.Those were the days when we didn't count our calories or gone after fiber calculations. But our traditional cooking involves only a very little oil and supplied us what we really needed.
Every night while doing my homework I used to ask my mom "Mom , anything interesting tonight?" If she says she got some fish to cut or a big brinjal to broil, then I will grab a stool and start watching her. I love the way my mom pricked the giant size Eggplant and her broiling technique.
Ok , Coming back to our chutney,
We may need a big purple or white eggplant to do this. Otherwise 3-4 small size brinjals are enough. I served this as side dish with steamed rice, (ketti paruppu) fried dhal and paruppu rasam.



Ingredients:

Big size eggplant - 1 (1/4 kg)
red chillies - 3
Tamarind - a strawberry size
salt - to taste.
olive oil (or any oil)- few drops

Equipments needed:

Hand mortar - (optional..we can use a blender also)
metal skewer
gas stove (electrical stoves don't do that good).

Method:
wash the eggplant. Remove its crown , dab with a clean kitchen cloth and remove the moisture. Poke a few holes into it. Then coat it fully with a few drops of olive oil or sesame oil. Insert the skewer in to the eggplant through the crown area. Switch ON the stove and broil it by holding the skewer.
I used a vadai kambi (a sharp metal rod used to flip vadai).
Broil the eggplant , till its skin becomes dark .
Now you can see the eggplant cooked tenderly. (If in doubt, press it gently with a spoon and the eggplant with fall apart).If not cooked properly, then broil it again.
But I am sure within 5 minutes , it will be cooked softly.
Then Cool it and remove the skin. Put it in a blender or hand mortar. Using a hand mortar will definitely enhance the flavor, but I used a blender.
Add red chillies, salt and tamarind to it.
Grind it to a coarse paste. No need to temper(thalippu) it. But if you like , you can crackle a few mustard seed with curry leaves and run it over the chutney.
But I like the traditional chutney which does not call for any tempering.
Eggplant chutney is ready.

Serving suggestions:

It can be best served with dosai, idly , roti or steamed rice.

11 comments:

Cham said...

Wow the brinjal needs to be broiled and we have a chutney ready in minutes! Yummy!

Varsha Vipins said...

i made a brinjal dish lately..but this is an innovative one..:)

Shama Nagarajan said...

quick to prepare.......wow...lovely

Raks said...

Love that white eggplant,looks so cute and thanx for the recipe Viki!

Adlak's tiny world said...

brinjal chutney in diffrnt way... can enjoy the aroma of traditional way of yr cooking....

Anonymous said...

Tasty chutney .Will baking yield the same result?I don't have a flame stove.

Vikis Kitchen said...

Thanks Cham, Varsha, shama, Raji, Hema and Yasmeen.
Yes , Yasmeen we can do it in our oven too. I am not sure of temperatures , but after baking it just keep it in broil mode till the skin turns brown.I have done it once and it came out good.

Usha said...

This sounds delightful, just today I was thinking I want to try making a chutney with brinjal and here I find a delicious recipe for it, thanks !

Priya Suresh said...

Wowow this is really superb Viki...will try soon with oven...

Malar Gandhi said...

Much like our 'Baingan Ka Bharta' right, I like this version which doesnt call for strong spices and tempering!

Gita Jaishankar said...

I wanted to try eggplant chutney, thanks for sharing the recipe Viki :)

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