Receta Recipe | Peanut & Poppy Seeds Stuffed Brinjal or Eggplants – Easy and Delightful Indian Curry
‘A Brinjal by any other name is still a Birnjal’…was my one liner when mom used to cajole us eating eggplant or brinjal dishes in the name of Bharta, Brinjal Chokha, Raitas, stuffed Baingan and so on. But then most of the children I know have love-hate relationship with Brinjal…and I too had mine, so no regrets.
I feel the pinch when I watch Asian chefs tossing out exotic eggplant recipes on television shows and savoring them with a Hmm..wow…I should have taken a risk to explore the versatility of this humble veggie then.
Though I keep trying various eggplant recipes at home but all I know is Brinjal Bharta (smoked eggplant with spices), brinjal fritters (coated with chickpea flour) and a few Indian curries. Anyways Brinjal is a favorite at home now and even my children love it….and yes, I don’t have to cook up new names to make them eat this purple veggie anymore
Peanut and sesame stuffed Brinjal curry is quite popular in many parts of North and West India. Normally the dish is done with just sesame, peanut powder and minimal spices in it which my children find too dry and often avoid it. I make this recipe with poppy seeds and add a paste of a few more veggies to make it a gravy based dish which we enjoy eating with hot Indian flat breads or chapattis.
Use small and round eggplants which are light and soft to touch, as the harder varieties have seeds in it.
Ingredients
(serve 2)
- 10-12 small eggplant (brinjal)
- 3 tbsp. groundnuts
- 1 tbsp. poppy seeds
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 onions
- 3-4 garlic cloves
- 2 tbsp. oil
- Salt as desired
- Spices;
- 1 tbsp. coriander seed powder
- 1 tsp. red chilly powder
- 1 tsp. Garam masala powder
- 1 tsp. mustard and cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp. cumin seeds powder
- 1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
Method; Wash and wipe all the eggplants or brinjals. Make two slits at the bottom of each brinjal.
Dry roast groundnuts in a pan for 10 minutes on medium heat and remove it. Similarly dry roast poppy seeds (Khus-khus) if using for 5 minutes and take off the flame.
Grind groundnuts and poppy seeds into fine powder.
Peel and slice onion, dice tomatoes, grind them into a paste with ginger and garlic cloves.
Take a small bowl and add groundnut and poppy seed powder, red chilly powder, cumin seed powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, salt, turmeric and mix well. Add a little water in the dry powder and mix to make a paste.
Fill a tbsp. or more of this paste in each brinjal.
Heat oil in a flat pan and crackle mustard and cumin seeds. Add tomato-onion-ginger-garlic paste in it and saute for 5-6 minutes on medium heat.
Place all the stuffed eggplants or Brinjals carefully in the pan. Coat the sauteed masala gently over the brinjal with a ladle.
Cover the pan and cook for 10 minutes on low heat. Open the lid and turn the brinjal to other side cover with lid and cook again for 10 more minutes.
Take the pan off the flame and garnish the dish with chopped fresh coriander leaves. Serve this delicious Peanut & Sesame Stuffed Eggplant recipe with hot Indian flat breads or plain rice.
Notes;
You can avid the tomato-onion paste in the recipe and cook the stuffed eggplant just with the paste of sesame and peanut.
Normally whole spices (coriander, cumin, red chilly) are roasted and ground into powder to make the paste. Mine is a quick fix method of cooking and it saves lot of time for me.
Do not remove the stalk from the Brinjal, as it help hold the veggie in shape without the stuffing coming out while cooking.
Add a few slices of potatoes while cooking the recipe, in case your children don’t wish to try Brinjal.
Add one cup of warm water in the end to make it a gravy dish which you can enjoy with plain rice or chapattis.
If you have peanut allergy, replace it with sesame and a few almonds in the recipe.