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Bharwa Bhindi

This sabzi is usually prepared to take along while traveling. The masalas keep the bhindi pickled for 24 hours. I personally like it so much that often I made my mother make it even when we weren’t going anywhere.

The masalas in this case completely change the taste of bhindi. This is a must try, for those of you who dont like Bhindi or are bored of the usual style of cooking it.

Ingredients :

• 250 grams Bhindi
• 1 tablespoon Oil
• 1 teaspoon Tamarind paste
• 2 teaspoons Jaggery
• 4 teaspoons Tawa masala

Procedure :

1. Heat Oil. Add Tamarind paste. If you dont have tamarind paste you can add amchur powder.
2. Add Jaggery and mix well.
3. Put tawa masala in and turn off the heat. The consistency of the paste should be thick, like halwa.
4. Slit bhindi. Stuff the masala into it and shallow fry in hot oil. Sprinkle a pinch of salt over the bindis (remember stuffing already has salt)
5. Once bhindi appears done, serve hot with rotis.

Please NOTE :

1. If you buy ready-made tawa masala you will need to taste and see if it contains salt or not. If it doesn’t, please add some to it.
2. If your tawa masala contains amchur or dry mango powder then please skip adding tamarind paste.

Mashed Brinjal (Baigan Ka Bharta)

This is an age old favorite which has seen changes in its recipe over a period of time. Presenting to you the contemporary method as well as the original recipe of the famous Baigan ka bharta.

Ingredients :

• 1 large dark purple brinjal
• 6 garlic pods
• 1 onion
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 green chilly
• A small piece of ginger
• 2 teaspoons Dhania powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mirchi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Haldi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera powder
• 1/2 teaspoon jeera seeds

Procedure :

1. Stuff garlic pods into the Brinjal. Place it directly over the flame and burn.
2. Turn the brinjal till its cooked from all sides. Once done, turn off the heat and allow the brinjal to cool.
3. Peel the skin and mash the inner pulp.
4. Heat oil. Add Jeera, green chillies, onions and fry for a minute.
5. Add grated ginger and fry for a few more minutes.
6. Add chopped tomatoes and continue to fry till the mixture leaves fat from the sides.
7. Add dhania powder, mirchi powder, haldi powder and jeera powder. Mix well.
8. Mix in the mashed brinjal and cook till the mixture comes together.
9. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

Variation

1. You can add 1/2 teaspoon of garam masala also but please be careful as the dish already contains green chillies and should not become too spicy.
2. You can burn a small piece of coal over the flame, keep few cloves on it and pour a tablespoon of ghee on it. Place this fuming coal in the middle of the bharta and cover the lid. This will lend an enchanting coal flavor to the bharta. You just have to try this one!

Original Bharta recipe

For some reason the Original Baigan ka Bharta recipe got tampered with, over time. The influence of methods used to cook other vegetables was probably the reason for this. In olden days the brinjal was burnt over coal, seasoned without any further cooking and consumed.

Procedure :

1. Follow first 3 steps in the procedure mentioned previously. This will give you the burnt brinjal pulp.
2. Roast jeera seeds and powder them with the help of a mortar-pestle.
3. Take a few teaspoons of mustard oil. Add finely chopped green chillies, onions and roasted jeera powder to it.
4. Mix in the burnt brinjal mash and some salt.

Please NOTE :

In the original recipe the mustard oil used is not heated. Yes, we are actually mixing in chillies and onions raw! Well, so much for the original recipe.

Stuffed Baby Brinjals

This is sabzi where baby brinjals are cooked with bharva or tawa masala. Of all the tava vegetables, Brinjals taste the best.

Even people who usually dont eat brinjals go for at least a couple of pieces. For one, the dressing completely complements its regular taste.

Ingredients :

• 6 baby brinjals
• 3 tablespoons of Tawa masala
• 1 teaspoon of Amchur powder
• 2 onions
• 2 teaspoons of ginger-garlic paste
• 3 tablespoons of cooking oil (Phew!)
• 1 teaspoon dhania powder
• 1/2 teaspoon haldi powder

Procedure :

1. Make a cross – shaped incision on the head of the brinjals.
2. Stuff brinjals with Tawa masala using a knife.
3. Heat oil. Fry onions till they turn glossy. Add ginger-garlic paste and continue to saute.
4. Now add dhania powder, haldi powder and stir for a few seconds.
5. Gently drop in the baby brinjals into the masala.
6. Cover and cook until brinjals are done.

Variation

1. In the above recipe sometimes we skip adding amchur powder to the brinjals and instead fry tomatoes with onions in Step (3). This gives a slight change in taste.
2. This dish can be made in exactly the same way with baby potatoes

Please NOTE :

1. Taste your tawa masala and check if it contains salt. In case it its without salt, please add some before stuffing the brinjals.
2. At home we usually prefer low-oil cooking. So when we make this dish instead of frying the brinjals in too much oil we add 1/2 glass of water and pressure cook them. This is done in Step (6).

Crunchy Bitter Gourd

This is a simple recipe to enhance the taste of bitter gourd. Please try to use baby bitter gourds for this recipe.

Ingredients :

• 5 baby bitter gourds
• Pinch of Haldi powder
• 1/2 teaspoon Mirchi powder
• 1 teaspoon Dhania powder
• Pinch of hing
• Finely chopped Coriander leaves

Procedure :

1. Peal the skin of the bitter gourd to the extend you like. Slit and de seed the gourd, rub salt on the insides and let it rest for a few hours. In case you are using baby gourds then you need not marinate it for that long as they wont be very bitter.
2. Wash away the bitter saline water. Cut the gourd into semi-circular slices.
3. Heat oil and shallow fry the gourd slices.
4. Once done, take out the slices and in the remaining oil add haldi powder, mirch powder, dhania powder and hing. Stir for a minute and mix in the fried gourd pieces.
5. Mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with rotis.

Snake Gourd Fry

This is by nature one of the tastier gourds as compared to bottle gourd, bitter gourd and its other gourd counterparts. The natural taste of this vegetable is the best and hence it should not contain too many spices. Here is a simple recipe which gives you a delicious Snake Gourd sabzi.

Ingredients :

• 2 long, slim snake gourds
• 1 teaspoon rai
• 1 teaspoon jeera
• Pinch of Haldi powder
• 1 teaspoon dhania powder
• Pinch of hing
• Few curry leaves
• 1 green chilly
• Finely chopped Coriander leaves
• 1 tablespoon curds (optional)

Procedure :

1. Peal away the skin of the gourd well. Cut it into small cubes.
2. Heat oil. Add rai, jeera, curry leaves, slit green chilly and hing.
3. Add gourd cubes, haldi powder, dhania powder, salt and stir well. Cover and cook till done.
4. Garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

Variation :

Once the sabzi is cool add a tablespoon of curds to get a delicious, semi-gravy dish to go with rice/rotis’.