Badanekai Ennegai

**Author - Alee Venkatesh **





Ennegai (Eggplant gravy – South Indian style)

Eggplant, also known as aubergine, melongene, brinjal; available in different shapes and sizes and is used in cuisines from Japan to Spain including Australia, New Zealand, Canada & the United States.  A particular variety of green brinjal known as Matti Gulla is grown in Matti, a village of the Udupi district in Karnataka State.  According to statistics, production of eggplant is highly concentrated, with 85% of output coming from five countries.  China being the top producer and India is the second largest producer followed by Egypt, Turkey and Indonesia.


This dish tastes great with either plain rice or with rotis & chapatis.  Different people prepare this dish in different ways but here is my modified version for you to give it a try and I am sure you love the taste.


VERSION 1


INGREDIENTS –  6-8 medium sized round eggplants (chopped into bite size pieces), 1/4 cup oil, (for seasoning - curry leaves, hing, turmeric powder, mustard seeds), salt, tamarind juice and jaggery to taste.

 MASALA INGREDIENTS (dry roasted & grinded into powder) - 1-2 tsps each of coriander seeds, cumin seeds, clove, cinnamon, dry red chillies, sesame seeds, peanuts, hurigadale (roasted gram)

PROCEDURE - Heat oil in a pan, season items using seasoning ingredients as listed above.  Fry eggplant until tender, add grinded mixture, salt, jaggery & tamarind juice - mix well to combine.  Simmer for 5 mins and serve hot.



VERSION 2

INGREDIENTS – ½ kg. Eggplant (or 1 large eggplant) sliced lengthwise, ½ cup cooking oil, pinch of turmeric powder, salt to taste, hing to taste, 2-3 tsps. Vangibath powder, lemon size tamarind (soaked and juice extracted), lemon size jaggery balls (powdered), ¼ tsp. each of mustard seeds, channa & urud dal for seasoning, curry & coriander leaves for garnishing.

PROCEDURE – Heat oil in a pan, season mustard seeds, hing, channa & urud dal.  Add sliced eggplant, turmeric powder.  When eggplants are half cooked, add salt & jaggery powder.  When eggplants are almost done, add tamarind juice, simmer for few minutes and serve hot.