Eggplant Fry

Can you tell me what is most difficult thing during the cooking process?

Sorry, you got it WRONG!  It is neither the perennial “What to cook today?” question, nor the dreaded cleaning that comes after it! The most difficult step during the cooking process is to aptly name your dish.  Especially if you are an over enthusiastic and an experimentalist cook like me wherein you do not know where your journey would take you in the kitchen!

While cooking, my son would ask me occasionally “What dish you are cooking now dad?”  I would be like the poor deer on the headlight not knowing what to tell him as God only knows the dish name!

Naming the dish is one thing. Will everyone understand what the dish is based on the name?  I once shared my yummy Eggplant Kara (or Puli) Kolambu with my dear friends (from North India), only to receive this compliment “Senthil, this is the best tasting sambar you have ever made!”

I wish I do not struggle when it comes to naming my dishes.  After all, I did not have any difficulty when picking up a name for my kid!  In fact, when my wife’s OB GYN did the ultrasound during my wife’s pregnancy and told me “Congratulations! You are going to have a SON!”, I casually turned my head towards the monitor and said “Hi SANJAY!”.

Today, I will share a simple recipe for Eggplant Fry (I think you will agree it is Eggplant Fry). I have so many variations how I make this Eggplant fry including the special Ennai Kathirikai recipe and my mom’s best eggplant fry recipe. I will post them all soon.

Special thanks to my dear friends Anand and Nithya who shared their homegrown organic eggplant, I particularly loved the green eggplant variety in the medley!!!

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Eggplant Fry

Awesome eggplant stir fry with mild spices

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Indian

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 30 minutes

Servings 4 people

Author Senthil Sadasivam

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Eggplant sliced
• 1 Onion chopped finely
• 1 Tomato chopped finely
• 2 Green chilies chopped finely
• 5 cloves Garlic chopped finely
• 3 tbsp Coconut paste
• 1 tbsp Chili powder
• 1/2 tbsp Coriander powder
• 1 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tsp Black pepper powder optional
• 5 tbsp Oil
• Salt to taste

Optional ingredient

• 2 tbsp Sambar powder instead of chili/ coriander powder

Tadka ingredients

• ½ tbsp Fennel powder
• 2 Sprigs Curry leaves

Instructions

1. Heat 3 tbsp oil in a wide non-stick pan (non-stick pan preferred for this dish) and fry fennel powder, and then curry leaves.

2. Add onion and fry till it gets browned.
3. Add green chilies and chopped garlic and fry for few mins.

4. Add tomatoes and fry till it gets mashed up and sautéed well.

5. Add sliced eggplant, all spice powders, coconut paste, salt to taste and sprinkle some water and mix the contents well. Cover the lid and cook for 2 mins.

6. Open the lid, stir the contents and continue frying without lid (occasionally turning the contents now and then) till the eggplant almost gets roasted well.

7. Add 2 tbsp oil and continue frying the eggplant till it gets sautéed to the desired consistency.

Recipe Notes

• You can season with mustard and urad dal if you do not like fennel (or want variation).
• If you want to just feel the eggplant only in the dish, you can sauté and then grind onion, tomato, chilies, garlic (you can even add some ginger) along with coconut. You can add this paste along with the eggplant and spice powders and cook.
• This dish is a good side dish for rice and chapathi.
• You can also mix white rice with this dish and eat it with chips, papad or an omelet.