Masala Baingan (Baby Bringals in curry)

This recipe is passed on by my brother; he absolutely loves cooking (like me). I just made this about an hour ago. Even though I have at least 5 recipes sitting in my drafts, this certainly takes precedence for its taste. Thanks dear brother…
My husband loved this so much that he asked me to pack extra box of lunch with this to share with his colleague.
This is fairly close to Bagara Baingan recipe I posted but the taste somehow is miles apart.
The measurements serves 4 and is medium spicy. This goes well with fried rice, roti, naan bread or even plain rice. This takes about 30 minutes from start to finish.

Ingredients:
Bringal: fresh, small, round: 12
Onion: 1 large, finely chopped
Mint leaves: about 2 strings
Tamarind paste: 1 tbsp in a cup of water
Cinnamon and clove: 1 small stick and 2 respectively
Cumin: 1 tbsp
Red chili powder: 1 tsp
Ginger and garlic paste: 1 tbsp
Oil and salt as needed
Turmeric powder: 1 pinch
Cilantro (fresh coriander): Handful, roughly chopped

For Gravy: Wet-grind these together and keep aside.
Tomato: 1 large, roughly chopped
Green Chili: 1 large or 3 small
Grated coconut: 5 tbsp

For Masala: Dry roast the below and make fine powder out of them.
Ground nuts: 5 tbsp
Cashew nuts: 10
Sesame seeds: 1 tbsp
Coriander seeds: 1 ½ tbsp

Method:
• Clean the bringals and slit them length wise towards the stem, keeping the bringal intact, yet making a crisscross.
• Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a wide bottom pan and roast the bringals until they are half cooked. Make sure you gently turn them around once in a while, keeping the shape intact.

• While the bringals are being fried, make paste of the 3 ingredients under “For Gravy” and keep aside.
• Also dry roast “For Masala” ingredients and make fine powder out of them.
• After the bringals are half-done, take them out of the pan and keep aside. In the same pan add another 2 tbsp of oil.
• To oil, add cumin seeds, cinnamon, clove and mint leaves. After a few seconds add the finely chopped onions and gently stir until the onions are translucent.
• Add red chili powder, turmeric and salt to the onions. Fry for 10 seconds and add the ginger garlic paste.


• Fry for another 10 seconds and add the “for gravy” (tomato, coconut and green chili) ingredients.
• Stir and add the powdered masala. Stir again and add the tamarind water. Check for salt at this point.
• Bring to a boil and then add the roasted bringals.


• Cover and cook until the bringals are just about done under medium to low flame (would not take more than 8-10 mins). Don’t over cook the bringals, else they would separate from stem. Also, for some reason the gravy was sticking to the base of vessel. I think it’s because of cashews. Make sure to stir (gently) occasionally to avoid this.
• Switch off the heat and garnish with cilantro/coriander leaves.


Variations:
1. The recipe given by my brother actually calls for garam masala to be added in the end but I didn’t add. I felt the recipe already had enough spices in it. If you want more spices, surely you can add a tbsp of garam masala.
2. If anyone of you feel that the recipe is way too spicy for your taste, after you switch off the heat add 2 tbsp of sour cream to bring down the spice level.

I have served this with rice and salad (baby carrots, cucumber and cherry tomatoes with yogurt dip) to counter the spice.