Ennegai/ Stuffed brinjal/ Badane tumbugai

Stuffed brinjal curry/ badanekai ennegai is a must in north Karnataka lunch. The combination of it with jowar roti/ jolad rotti is made in heaven. Though making of jowar roti is bit tricky, making of stuffed brinjal is comparatively easy. The taste of this dish is incredible & which is one of the best dishes of eggplants.

I am sharing my version of ennegai recipe here which I have learnt from my friend Anuradha Kulkarni. Check the recipe of tindora/ ivy gourd/ tondekai ennegai here.

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Brinjal/ eggplant – 10-12 (small purple variety, suggested to pick smaller ones)

Peanuts – 2 tbsp (30 gms)

Sesame seeds – 1 tbsp (half the measure of peanuts)

* Sambar powder – 1tsp

Tamarind– ½ tsp/ small gooseberry sized

Jaggery – small lemon sized piece (1 tsp powder)

Grated coconut– 4 tsp (optional)

Turmeric powder – a pinch

Salt – to taste

Oil – 2-3 tbsp (30ml)

 

* Ingredients for Sambar powder, if you are not using readymade:

Coriander seeds – 1 tsp

Cumin – ½ tsp

Fenugreek seeds – 8-10

Dry red chillis – 2

Gram Dal – 1 tsp

Urad Dal – ½ tsp

Cinnamon – a small piece

Cloves - 2

 

Method:

• Pick small & clean brinjals without worms. Wash brinjals clean and allow drying for few minutes. Slit them lengthwise (like a +) without cutting completely into pieces, check properly to avoid presence of worms & bugs. Try to keep the stalk intact.
• Soak tamarind in ¼ cup of water or little lesser.

Stuffing preparation:

• Take a pan, add peanuts and dry roast peanuts in a pan until they turn brownish and you get a nice aroma.
• Keep aside to cool down. Remove the skin of peanuts as much as possible. Skin on few is fine.
• Meanwhile, dry roast sesame seeds till they splutter or leaves nice aroma.
• If not using ready-made sambar powder, fry all the ingredients for sambhar powder with few drops of oil until they turn color to light brown and you get a fried aroma.
• In a dry mixer jar, mix all the roasted ingredients like peanuts, sesame, sambhar powder (or fried ingredients), coconut gratings, turmeric powder and dry grind to get the powder.
• Mix salt to taste.
• Now it is the process of stuffing the masala to brinjal. Take brinjals one by one, with the help of a spoon add (stuff) little masala inside each of them. Keep them in a large bowl, mixing little masala to all of the brinjals.
• Place a thick bottomed pan/ kadai on stove, switch on the flame. Add 2 tbsp of oil. Add the stuffed brinjals to the heated oil and sauté for couple of minutes. Add tamarind extract (soaked tamarind), and jaggery to it.
• Add the left over masala after stuffing. Cook until brinjals are soft and the masala combines well with them. Saute carefully, in between in order to avoid burning the curry.
• You can sprinkle little water if required.
• You can make it dry or with gravy by adding water as needed.
• Serve hot with roti/ chapathi/ rice.