By: redchilliesPosted on

Every cuisine in India has its own version of making this Stuffed Eggplant delicacy. In fact even with in the same cuisine there are so many variations that it is hard to categorize this as belonging to a specific region. It majorly depends on the ingredients that go into the masala for stuffing. 

 Making this is not an easy process either; it is time consuming, involves lots of steps and requires a person to have good amount of patience to put this together. Ample experience is also required to judge when to turn the eggplant around, adjust the heat variations for cooking, sprinkle water etc.  Nevertheless the effort and patience pays off when the dish hits the table and everybody sits admiring at the ‘beauty’ and keep gorging on it.  

 Please note think that I am not trying to intimidate anybody about this.  This is based on my own personal experience and I discovered it the hard way. I learnt this recipe from my MIL who is an expert in making this. In fact this is one of her trademark recipes. I got carried away the first time she made this and could not wait to try it out myself. I watched her do with great intent, jotted down the recipe and what I thought were the key steps. But when I actually prepared it, there was only one word to describe the dish. DISASTER. The masala was burnt and the eggplants were not cooked etc.  

This was years ago and I have come a long way since. I have now learnt to make a decent stuffed eggplant though not in the same league as my MIL or other experts.  

 Ingredients

10 -15 small brinjals/eggplant
1 medium onion
¾ cup shredded coconut
Juice of lemon sized tamarind
Little jaggery for taste
Coriander leaves
Salt, oil

Ingredients to dry roast

1 Tbsp coriander seeds
1 tsp urad daal
1 tsp chana daal
½ tsp methi seeds
½ tsp sesame seeds
3-4 red chillies

 

 

 Preparation: 

 

  • Wash all the brinjals thoroughly and keep aside. 

  •  Dice the onion into small pieces. 

  • Dry roast all the ingredients one by one and keep them aside to cool. 

  • Grind the coconut along with red chillies, salt, tamarind juice and water. 

  • Half way through add the roasted ingredients and grind it to a smooth paste. Add water as required. The paste should be a bit thick and not runny. 

  •  Take the eggplant one by one and make a cross cut from the top of the eggplant Make sure to retain it in one piece. 

  •  Take a spoonful of paste and put this slowly into the opening of the eggplant where a slit was made.  Make sure not to tear the slit more. Repeat this for all the remaining eggplants.

Method:

  • Heat oil in a thick bottom pan; add the diced onions and sauté until transparent.

  • Remove the onions and keep aside. Reduce the heat to medium, add some more oil and start placing the eggplants one by one in the pan.

  • Cover a lid and let them cook for a while. After a while check if the eggplants are browning on the bottom. If so then change the direction, so that the brown part is at the top. Add more oil if required and cover the lid.

  • Check to see if the other side is done as well. Then add the cooked onions and the remaining masala paste and continue to cook.

  • Once the masala is cooked, steam in little bit oil. Mix and garnish with coriander leaves.

This can be served as a wonderful accompaniment with Rice, Rotis, Naans etc.

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Categories: Coconut based Curries / Gravies, Easy Vegetarian Recipes, Indian Vegetarian Side Dishes, Karnataka Recipes, Konkani Recipes, Revived Recipes

24 Replies to “Coconut Stuffed Eggplant (Bharlele Vaingan /Ennegai)”

  1. Rc – Looks lovely – wish i could have some!
    Thondda uddha ayyele! Bhari Lavayk dissta asse…Jovanna yevche ve?
    Certain recipes as u said require practice & only by trial you get it right!

  2. I love dishes made with egplant, as you have said each regions cusine is different with its own flavours. Eggplant looks delicious ….worth every minute spent in the kitchen making it.

  3. Just by looking at the picture, I can tell that you have achieved the level of Expert for this dish! It looks so good, my stomach is rumbling!
    Kamini

  5. Like you said, this is one dish I haven’t had success with the few times I’ve ventured there. And this is something I like. I suspect I must have skimped on the oil while cooking this!

  6. Isn’t that a visually and gastronomically a beautiful dish? Always makes me feel comforted. Great recipe. Usually I get those round brinjals only in Indian store. Looks yum!:)

  9. These look amazing and I like the fact that this is a dry version… but I can totally see how this can get out of hand if one is not attentive.

  11. Thanks Seema. Please ghara yo, nimmuche na. You are always welcome.

    Thanks Madhu. We are eggplant lovers too and cannot get enough of this.

    Thanks Kamini for your encouraging words. You are so sweet.

    Thanks Maya. So glad you liked it.

    Thanks Aparna. What can I say, this requires an easy hand on the oil.

  12. Thanks Asha. It is truly a comforting food and yes these are available in the Indian groceries. However not so lon ago I was surpised to see them in the Walmart store.

    Sumedh, maybe you need to give it a shot.

    Thanks Uma. This is my favorite too.

    Thanks Laav. This sure does take good amount of time and resource and attention.

    Tahnks Mala. Yeah perfect with rotis.

  18. I’ve hard its very difficult to make stuffed baghara baingan, so I usually go for the baingan bharta:) but your story and recipe sounds inspiring RC!:) the dish looks great:)

  19. Thanks Deepa. You are always to have it 🙂

    Thanks Sagari. I have never tried it in the pressure cooker.

    Thanks Bhags. Good idea with ground nut powder. I shall try ut next time.

    Thanks Dhivya, Ramya.

    Thanks Mansi. Glad you liked it.

  20. Looks great. My MIl also makes these delicious baigans but a bit differently. Its not a very common dish in north india.

  21. Pingback: Stuffed Capsicum/ Bharvaan Mirchi | RedChillies
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  24. This is because coconut oil is nature’s richest source of medium chain fatty acids (MCFAs), versus the other oils which contain long chain fatty acids (LCFAs). This property of coconut oil also causes kidney stones to dissolve. Aside from being an anti inflammatory, this oil is also antibacterial, antimicrobial and antiviral.

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