While brinjals come in many varieties, my favourite has been small round purple ones which are used for making a variety of stuffed brinjal curries and Hyderabad’s famous Bagara Baingan.
These are firm, with minimal seeds and have less water content which ensures the brinjal doesn’t get overcooked quickly and makes it preferable for stuffed/bharwan brinjal curries.
This recipe is again a Andhra recipe which I learnt from my mother in law. Post marriage whenever we had brinjal curry at home it would be the one stuffed with dry roasted spice powder ( Koora karam podi), which is my husband’s favourite. I used to think that it is the only style stuffed brinjal is made at home. Then one day MIL made this flavourful stuffed brinjal curry with coriander masala paste and from that day on this is my favourite version of stuffed brinjal apart from Uttara ( North) Karnataka style Yennegayi or Tumgayi. Will post soon about Karnataka style curry too which tastes awesome with chapathis as well as rice. Now back to the current recipe. Kothimira is coriander in telugu, kaaram means spice both plain chilli powder as well as masala powder. So as the name suggests main ingredients are coriander and brinjals. This is also a minimal ingredients recipe. Let’s check out the full list of ingredients and the procedure.
Ingredients
- Small round firm Purple brinjals – 6 to 7
- A small to medium sized fresh coriander bunch
- Green chillies – 4 to 5 Or Per spice levels.
- Fresh coconut – One fourth of a coconut flesh cut into small pieces ( If you do not have it’s fine, but this adds to texture and enhances taste, hence beg borrow or steal 🙂 )
- Jeera – 1 tsp
- Hing 1 small pinch
- Salt per taste
- Oil – 2 tbsp
Process
- Wash brinjals thoroughly and remove the stems.
- Make a criss cross slit at the top. Drop these brinjals in bowl filled with water and little salt. This will ensure brinjals wont turn black. You can choose to make slit at the bottom or one slit at top and other cross slit at the bottom. Make your choice.
3. Wash coriander thoroughly and blend it along with green chillies, salt ( as required) coconut, cumin seeds and hing. Add little water to make a thick paste.
4. Stuff the brinjal with the coriander paste and keep the remaining paste aside to be added later.
5. Now take a skillet and add oil. Once oil is hot slide the stuffed brinjals and cook for a minute gently turning over the brinjals.
6. Cover the skillet with a deep plate and add water into the plate. This provides for a pressure effect.
7. Keep checking and turn over the brinjals gently.
8. Once brinjals covers are soft, add the remaining masala paste and cook for 4 to 5 mins more. Add little water as required to achieve a thick gravy consistency and avoiding burning of the curry.
9. Once done transfer this to a bowl and serve with hot rice.
A short cut for busy days
- Instead of stuffing the brinjals with masala paste, add plain slit brinjals into the oil, add little salt and cover with Plate and water in it and cook.
- Once the brinjals are soft add the masala and mix with brinjals gently to avoid breaking the brinjals. Cook till the curry comes together.
An even quick version for even busier days.
- Cut each brinjal into 4 long pieces.
- Add these to hot oil. sprinkle some salt, cover with lid filled with water and cook. These get cooked faster than the above method. Once the brinjal skin is soft add the masala, little water and cover with lid and cook till curry comes together.
For me all the 3 ways work and taste same as I focus on the coriander masala aroma and flavours. However, the brinjals’s texture and soaking up of flavours differs very slightly and mostly unnoticeable by most. So choose whichever way works for you and stir up this delicacy.
Please do try and post in comment how did you like this curry. Namaskaram 🙂
Oota ayita 