Sutta Gulla badane gojju/ mattu gulla bajji/ Roasted Eggplant or brinjal gravy

This is a very traditional Dakshina kannada recipe which is almost a forgotten dish as it needs charcoal fire to make. Traditionally it was made by cooking/ or roasting whole gulla brinjal in charcoal fire. In a way, it can also be termed as barbecued brinjal gojju. But with urbanization, finding firewood cooking setup is very rare and hence we miss this kind of dishes.

Taste of this gojju is very unique with the roasted flavour of brinjal. There is a work around to make this gojju if wood fire is unavailable. That is by boiling brinjal in a pressure cooker. It can be charred a bit by holding the cooked brinjal on the flame of a stove or by grilling in oven! Using the brinjal variety other than gulla (Large round & green variety) makes the taste slightly different than the traditional one. Still you can enjoy the flavour of this side dish which is really great with rice and sambhar!

Make sure to choose brinjal which is worm free while making this dish!

Preparation &cooking time:  20 minutes

Serves: 3

Ingredients:

Gulla brinjal/ Udupi eggplant – 1 (Large)
Onion - 1, small & finely chopped (optional)

Tamarind – 1 grape sized/ 1 tsp (extract)

Jaggery – Lemon sized/ 2 tbsp (powder)

Salt – to taste

Green chilli – 1-2, adjust to taste

Coconut oil – 2 tsp

Mustard – 1 tsp

Dry red chilli – 1

Cumin – ½ tsp (optional)

Curry leaves – 1 sprig

Method:

• Wash brinjal clean. Pierce in the centre using a sharp knife or fork.
• Place it in a pressure cooker. Add little water (about ¼ cup) just to avoid burning.
• Cook for one whistle. Allow pressure to settle down.
• You can use the above cooked brinjal as it is by removing the outermost skin.
• Or roast it for couple of minutes holding on high flame just to get the extra flavour.
• Now, peel off the outer thin skin, discard it.
• Mash the pulp and set aside.
• In a serving bowl, squeeze the tamarind in little water to get the extract completely. You can use the water used to pressure cook the brinjal.
• Add grated jaggery and salt to the tamarind extract.
• Press the slit green chilli a bit with your finger into the bowl to get the green chilli flavour nicely.
• Add the mashed brinjal pulp. 
• Add finely chopped onions too. Mix well.
• Now prepare a seasoning of coconut oil, mustard, cumin, minced dry red chilli. On spluttering, add curry leaves and add it to the gojju.
• Serve this gojju with rice.

Notes:

• Use gulla variety of brinjal to get desired taste.
• Adjust the tamarind and jaggery quantity to adjust to your taste.
• Refrigerate the left over gojju for longer shelf life as it is not boiled.