Most-Excellent Eggplant Prepared Tamilian-Style

I was asking a vegetarian friend of mine (from India) how she prepared eggplant.

In her country, eggplant is called "Kathirikai" and they eat it all the time.

She described a most-excellent recipe and even took the time to go with me over to an Indian Market named Pasha to get the some of the supplies.

At the market we picked up two really nice looking eggplants and a fresh coconut (which she gave to the man in back - like a butcher - and told him to "crack it"...it came back in a sack broken into about four pieces) and some "Chapati Bread" (basically a wheat flour tortilla) and a few of the spices below. For the ones I didn't need a lot of, she took me over to her apartment and poured bits of various spices into newspaper squares, which she then folded up origami-style.

There are quite a few ingredients:

• 2 medium eggplants


• 1/2 fresh coconut, ground meat on cheese grater


• fresh ginger (about two inches of root), ground on cheese grater


• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced


• 1/2 tomato (I used a Roma)


• 1/2 onion


• 1/4 cup vegetable oil


• 1 tsp ground cumin


• 2 tbsp ground tumeric


• 1 tbsp coriander seeds (or ground coriander)


• 2 tsp fennel seeds (or ground fennel)


• 1 tsp cayenne pepper powder (heat to taste)


• 1/4 tsp Asafoetida powder^*

1. Coat your eggplant with oil and remove the stem, etc. from the top. Put them into a pan in your oven, set to "Broil" for about 30 minutes, turning them over half way through.

2. Meanwhile, break out all of the meat from the coconut and chop it finely (I used my hand cheese grater). Then dice the onion and the tomato and also mince the garlic.

3. With the exception of the tumeric, mix all of the dry ingredients together in the same bowl.

4. Once the eggplants are ready, remove them from the oven. Let it cool until you can slice the eggplant into four or eight pieces and remove the skin. Then chop up the "peeled" eggplant into 1" cubes.

5. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan, until it starts to sizzle. Then add the tumeric. Vigorously stir that around. The objective here is to "fry" the spice itself. Do this for about a minute and a half.

6. Now add the onion and garlic to the oil. Stir around until the onion is clear.

7. Stir in the tomato and all of the dry ingredients

8. Add the coconut and stir that in to mix well with all of the spices. Let that simmer for about 3 minutes.

9. Next, add the eggplant to the mix and cook, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes. If the mix looks at all dry, add a bit of water.

To eat this, grab a piece of Chapati Bread and throw it into a heated pan. I prefer it to be a bit crispy. Then spoon on some of the Bhurtha mixture onto it and form a sort of "taco".

This is a delicious, completely vegetarian dish.

Shannon Norrell
webdood

^* - Asafoetida powder is an amazing smelling spice that I had heretofore never encountered. To me, this stuff smells like the "essence" of Indian food and is perhaps more closely aligned with the smell we all are used than even curry). Use it in judiciously small amounts.