Badanekai Yennegai ~ North Karnataka Style Eggplant in Peanut Curry
Badanekai Yennegai, a very traditional eggplant dish from North Karnataka made with a special spice blend to give it that earthy taste. Pairs well with sorghum flatbread, rice or chapathis
Servings 4 servings
Calories 244kcal
Ingredients
- 6 small purple eggplants/ brinjals, with stalks intact
- salt to taste
For the masala:
- 4-5 dried red chillies, mild variety (deseed them if you are using the spicy variety)
- 2 tablespoons peanuts, with or without skin
- 1 tablespoon roasted gram, hurikadale * optional, skip if you don't have it
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons black sesame seeds
- 1/2 cup grated coconut
- 1 teaspoon tamarind paste
- 1/2 a medium sized onion
- 2 cloves
- 1 inch stick of cinnamon or cassia bark
For the tempering (seasoning)
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 5-6 curry leaves
- 1/2 medium onion finely chopped
- a fat pinch of asafoetida (hing)
Instructions
- Wash the eggplants well and make a '+' (cross mark) at the bottom (base) of each of them, carefully slitting them all the way upwards (vertically) just until you reach the stalks. Don't cut the stalks off or else you will end up cutting each eggplant into quarters. Dip the eggplants in a pan of water for about 8-10 mins - this is to get rid of the excess iron that eggplants have. After 10 mins, remove, pat dry and keep aside. Discard the water
- In a heavy based tawa/skillet dry roast the coriander seeds, cumin seeds, red chillies, cinnamon, cloves, sesame seeds and peanuts one by one and remove onto a plate to cool. Make sure that you don't burn any of these ingredients or they will taste bitter. Maintain the heat of the skillet on a medium.
- When the spices have cooled down they will turn crisp. Grind them to a powder and then add the coconut, chopped onion, tamarind, jaggery and salt. Add water sparingly to make a thick coarse paste. Remove the masala into a bowl and reserve the masala water from the grinder.
- Marinate the eggplants with this paste stuffing them sufficiently with it. Retain the extra paste for the gravy.
- Heat oil in a heavy based pan/kadai and toss in the mustard seeds. When they stop spluttering, add curry leaves and the hing. Fry the onions till they turn translucent (pale)
- Slide in the marinated eggplants in a single layer, cover and cook for 4-5 minutes and gently flip them over and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add the reserved masala and the masala water and cook for another 2-3 mins. Adjust salt to taste.
- When the gravy has thickened slightly, remove pan from heat. Serve hot with JoLada Rotti (sorghum flatbread) or chapathis or rice.
Nutrition
Calories: 244kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 7g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Sodium: 15mg | Potassium: 977mg | Fiber: 15g | Sugar: 16g | Vitamin A: 266IU | Vitamin C: 35mg | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 2mg