Mashed Eggplant curry - Vankai Pachadi

This dish is made out of the big round purple eggplant. There are 2 version you can make

One south indian with green chillies, curry leaves and no garam masala. This we call it as 'Vankai Pachadi'. The other north indian version baingan bhartha with garam masala and dry chillie powder and no curry leaves.

Here is the recipe for vankai pachadi..

Ingridients:-

One big Eggplant

One big onion - chopped

2 tomatoes - optional / one lemon

Peas - 1 cup - optional

Fresh Coriander - optional

1. Wash and clean the eggplant and wipe it dry. Apply oil on its skin. Place it in a microwavable plate and microwave it for 6-8 mins.

2. Let it cool completely. Once cooled, you can take off the skin with hand. Peel off if required.

3. Now take some oil in a pan. Season with mustard seeds urad daal, chana daal, turmeric and hing. Once they sputter add add curry leaves and green chillies

4. Add onions now and fry till golden brown. (you can add ginger garlic at this point, but optional)

5. Add tomatoes chopped now. Let it cook for 5 mins. This step is optional. If you do not add tomatoes then you can squeeze a lemon after step 6.

6. Add the mashed eggplant.

7. Mix well and top it with peas if you like. You can add fresh coriander also if you like.

As said the baingan bhartha version, season with turmeric, jeera and dry red chillies in step 3. Add tomato puree and add peas. Add garam masala and chillie powder if required.