Vaangibaath ( Eggplant Rice/ Brinjal Rice)

The other day my friend and I were out running errands and we felt like going to a South Indian Restaurant. While the North Indian restaurants are ubiquitous, South Indian are harder to come by. I don't know exactly why.. However I think the western world relates Indian cuisine mainly to flatbreads ( rotis, paratha, naan), chicken tikka masala, tandoori chicken, aloo gobhi and chole than to the South Indian cuisine of dosas and idlis. Dosas are nothing but pancakes and crepes while idlis are steamed rice-lentil cakes both of which form the mainstay of South Indian Cuisine.Anyways, we happened to go to Dosa Hut ( translates as pancake hut) to eat some nice and crispy masala dosa. 

While we were done, my friend ordered some Vaangibaath "to go" for her hubby and her for dinner. She doesn't know how to make it and was craving it. Her ordering Vaangibaath made me crave it too.. I realized I had not made Vaangibaath in a long time. I decided to make it. Vaangibaath or Vangibath is nothing but Eggplant Rice. "Vaangi"
means "eggplant"or "Brinjal" and "Baath" is rice. Basically it is rice and eggplant cooked together with flavorful spices to make it something like a pulao( pilaf). It is quite simple and easy to make. I had some chimes eggplant in my fridge and I made it for lunch the next day. It is usually served with some chutney or raita ( yogurt based salad). My husband and I both relished it.

You get Vangibath powder in the store. I don't like to keep a whole bunch of pre-mixed spice mixes in my pantry if I am only going to make the dish sporadically. I keep a bunch of basic spices and mix it when I want a specific mix. For Vangibath I use sambar powder and add a couple of other spices to it. I use sambar powder to make my bisibelebath too. Here is my quick version of Vaangibaath.

Servings: 4-6

Prep time: 15 minsCook time: 20 minsTotal time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

White rice ( Basmati or any long grain rice is preferred): 2 cups
Water: 4 cups
Onion: 2 medium, chopped lengthwise
Cashew halves: 1-2 tbsp ( optional)
Eggplant, long variety ( Chinese eggplant): 3-4 medium-sized.
Oil: 2 tbsp ( I used coconut oil; any cooking oil can be used).
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Cinnamon stick: 1 inch piece
Cardamom:4 pods
Bay leaf: 1 small
Sambar powder: 2-3 tbsp
Salt: 1 tsp
Jaggery or sugar: 1/4 tsp
Coriander leaves: 1 tbsp  for garnish ( 1 tbsp)

Method:

Wash and soak basmati rice in water for atleast 30 mins. Drain and keep aside.

Heat oil in a sauté pan or pressure pan. Add mustard seeds. Once it splutters, add curry leaves, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and cardamom. If adding cashew halves, add them now. Sauté for 15-20 seconds.

Add the sliced eggplants. Sauté for 3-4 mins until the eggplant slightly wilts. Now add the sambar powder. Mix well. Add the washed and drained rice. Add 4 cups water, salt, jaggery and bring it to a boil. Reduce the flame to low.

Cover and cook for 15 mins.

When done, fluff the rice using a serving spoon.
Garnish with freshly grated coconut and/or coriander leaves.

Serve hot with raita/cucumber-tomato slices and/or chutney of any kind.

Enjoy!   I can't wait to bring this to Angie's Fiesta Friday#174! I am sure this will be something new to everybody!

Cooking made easy:

If using a pressure cooker, don't use weight or whistle.
If it is convenient for you, you can use the Vaangibath mix that is readily available in stores.

Tip for healthy living:

Cooking with minimal oil reduces the overall calorie and fat content of the meal. A rule of thumb is that any dish that uses water for cooking, does not require much oil to cook.

Food for thought:

He who angers you conquers you. Elizabeth Kenny

Please do share your thoughts. Your opinion matters!

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Roasted Eggplant Fan; Guest post by Jhuls

Guys, I am back with a guest post for you this week!! Yay!! I am so happy to have this amazing blogger as my guest this week. In this ruthless world of blogging, there are those handful few who are "nice"  & "kind" to others! Those who actually think of others and want to do good for others. One such person is Jhuls from "The Not So Creative Cook". I am proud to say that Jhuls is my friend. In my journey of blogging for the past 3 years, she is one of those who supported my stumbling steps from the begining and nurtured my growth with her constant encouragement. In fact, her blog has a section where every week she introduces new bloggers to the rest of the world.

When I reached out to Jhuls a few weeks ago, she was taking a break from blogging and she promised me a guest post as soon as she was back in circulation. It is interesting that she reached out to me earlier this week when I was feeling low as I had just lost my very healthy aunt in a "hit and run" accident. I am still trying to come to terms with that loss. It is as if she "sensed" my need and reached out.. that is real friendship. 

Jhuls is an excellent chef as is evident from her blog " the not so creative cook". Do not go by the title. She is extremely talented,creative, not to mention bubbly and naughty! Check out her blog for all the very creative recipes. Her blog will leave you mesmerized. Today she brings us a delicious and easy recipe of " Roasted Eggplant Fan". I hope you enjoy this post as much as I have. Thank you Jhuls for this amazing guest post. I am bringing this to Throwback Thursday #48, Fiesta Friday #129 and Saucy Saturday #54!

With the fact that I am not that active in blogging for the last month, I am surprised that a fellow blogger invited me to do a guest post… And even more surprised that I am again invited to do it for a blogging friend who is more on the “nice side”.  :D

I feel so honored to be doing a guest post today for Su @ Su’s Healthy Living. Aside from she is so kind to share her healthy recipes with us, Su is such a good, wonderful blogging friend who is always there to lend a helping hand. She was one of the bloggers who volunteered to do a guest post for me. She was one of the firsts, to be precise. 

I received an invitation from Su during the time when I was taking a break from blogging. Even I was not blogging for a month, I didn’t stop thinking of what to make to share them with all of you.

Since I am on the “nice side” today and I am doing a guest post for our dear friend, Su, I am sharing something easy, but very delicious (at least for me who loves eggplants a lot). Su required something easy, quick and healthy. I am still struggling with quick recipes, so I will bring you the easy and healthy one.

I really love everything eggplant and when I saw the recipe from All That's Jas (http://all-thats-jas.com/2015/06/roasted-eggplant-fan.html), I just had to make it. I made few adjustments and I loved it, I really did. 

Though this Roasted Eggplant Fan takes more than an hour to be ready, it is very easy to prepare and it’s really worth the wait. The eggplant fan alone tastes really good, but I am very much head over heels with eggplant + lemon-tahini sauce. Whoa! That's a good food marriage. Let's top with more crumbled feta cheese and their relationship with never be boring. 

With the addition of lemon-tahini sauce, I was in heaven! 

Servings: 2

Ingredients:

1 medium American eggplant

2 large tomatoes, sliced into thin rings

2 garlic cloves, grated

4 oz feta cheese, crumbled (plus more for topping)

Fresh basil, roughly chopped

Olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Dried or fresh parsley, for garnish

Lemon-tahini sauce, to serve

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

 Rinse the eggplant and dry with a paper towel. Cut the eggplant into thin slices, making sure to leave the stem attached.

Grease each slices with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place the eggplant on the parchment-lined baking sheet.   

Fill each eggplant slices with tomatoes, garlic, feta and basil. Carefully press the eggplant, shaping it into a fan.

Drizzle with more olive oil. 

Roast/bake the eggplant for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until liquid has evaporated. 

Transfer to a serving plate. Drizzle with lemon-tahini sauce and top with more crumbled feta cheese.

For the lemon-tahini sauce: 

1/4 cup tahini

3-4 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Salt, to taste

Warm water

In a bowl, place tahini sauce. Start off by adding 3 tbsp lemon juice. Add water until desired consistency. Add salt. Do a taste test and adjust according to your preference. I love mine lemony, a little salty and not too thick and runny.

I hope you all liked my version of Roasted Eggplant Fan. Try it and you will never be disappointed. 

Su, I had fun doing this for you and for our friends. Thank you so much for the opportunity. I would love to come back. ;)  

******

Yay! That's all, Su. I hope you liked it! 

x Jhuls

Quick Masala Eggplant

Navratri is a nine-day long festival that is celebrated in India with much pomp. Navratri  literally means Nine- nights." Nav" means nine and "ratri" means night. This is a festival that is celebrated for 9 days and 10 days . This festival is celebrates the Hindu Goddess (Devi) in her varied forms. You can read more here.During these days there is lot of festivities, fasting and prayers. You can read more in detail here. Different parts of India celebrate it differently with varied levels of fasting. It is believed in the Hindu religion that fasting is a form of cleansing and also that of self-discipline. The levels of fasting vary from complete fasting wherein the individual does not eat or drink all day and consumes a satvik vegetarian meal to an individual who only observes a vegetarian diet for nine days. Some only eat fruits and drink milk all nine days.Fasting is completely voluntary. It is perfectly ok if one chooses not to observe any of this and continues to eat a non-vegetarian meal.  Now, what is a satvik meal? A satvik meal is one that is without meat, eggs, fish, rice, onion and garlic . Are you surprised?? Well, you will be even more surprised when I tell you that all our weddings and other auspicious occasions have meals that are satvik , except that rice is served. And it is truly delicious. Coming back to the fasting: the North Indians follow a different kind of fasting while the South Indians follow a different kind of fasting. You can check the North Indian style of fasting for Navratri here. I am a South Indian and therefore I am familiar with only how fasting is observed  in the Southern Indian state of Karnataka. The other South Indian states like Tamilnadu and Kerala have a different way of fasting. You can check how the different states celebrate this festival here. I have only discussed the fasting part of this festival as this is a food-related blog.

Now,as for me personally, I used to not observe fasting during my younger days. Now for around 18 years I have been observing fasting during Navratri. This is how I do it. I take a bath first thing in the morning. Then I light a lamp in front of the altar. I then  eat breakfast in the morning which is usually a satvik meal with one cup of coffee. I do not eat anything all through the day. In the evening I eat another Satvik meal. That's it. Nothing in between or later. This for me is a great way to cleanse myself and to exercise my self-determination. It is also a great way to control your senses.

Happy fasting and praying to all those who celebrate Navratri. May you and your family be blessed.

On the occasion of Navratri I will be bringing to you one satvik recipe each day. Today I bring to you this dish which I prepared on a whim..

Sometimes you crave for certain flavors, certain tastes.. Sometimes you want to rustle up something different from the mundane... Sometimes, you want something really quick and easy... Sometimes, you want something that you can just leave on the stove and will transform to a delectable dish. This eggplant dish can meet all the above criteria. Honestly, I didn't know what to name this dish!! This is something that I came up with and created on a whim. I didn't follow any specific recipe and yet, here is a dish that you will want to make over and over again. It is finger-licking delicious! The addition of peanuts is completely optional, but I must say that the peanuts give the dish a nice texture and crunch that makes the dish even more delightful. Therefore, avoid adding peanuts only if you or a family member is allergic to it.

Servings: 3-4 ( serving size: 1/2 cup)

Ingredients:

Eggplant: 1 medium-sized, diced large.
Coconut oil: 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Roasted Peanut halves: 2 tbsp
Sambhar powder: 1 tbsp ( I used MDH brand sambar powder, any brand can be used).
Tamarind pulp: 1/4 tsp
Salt: to taste

Method:

Dice the eggplant into medium pieces and keep aside.

Heat oil in a frying pan or a sauté pan. Add mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the chopped eggplant & salt. Reduce the flame, cover and cook until the eggplant reaches the desired level of tenderness. 

Add the Sambhar powder and sauté for 30 seconds. 

Add the tamarind pulp and peanut halves and mix well. Turn off the flame.

Serve hot with rice, roti, bread.

Enjoy. I am bringing these goodies to Throwback Thursday #10, Fiesta Friday # 90 and Saucy Saturday. At the Fiesta,Effie @ Food Daydreaming and Lindy @ Lindy Mechefske are co-hosting this weekend.

Cooking made easy:

If you are out of Sambhar powder or don't have Sambhar powder, you can use any spice mix that you have on hand like rasam powder, curry powder.The taste will be slightly different than what you would get when you use Sambhar powder, but the dish will still be delicious as every spice mix is usually geared to making a flavorful dish.

Tip for healthy living:

For vegetarians,surreptitiously adding nuts, lentils and beans into dishes made with vegetables  is a great way to add protein into your diet.

Food for thought:

A champion is a dreamer that refused to give up. Unknown

Gulla/ Vaingana Sagle ( Stuffed baby eggplant)

Eggplants are a favorite across several cuisines worldwide. In India, eggplants are cooked several different ways, one of the most popular ones being "baingan bharta", in which the eggplant is charcoal roasted , peeled, mashed and mixed with oil and spices. That is yummy. In India, we also find baby eggplants which are most commonly stuffed with various spices and cooked. Again, there are several different ways to do this. Where I am from, which is Karnataka State in Southern India, we make a paste of coconut, roasted coriander and fenugreek seeds, red chillies ,stuff the cute little eggplants with it and slow cook it on the stove-top.
The name of this stuffed eggplant varies upon which kind of eggplant has been used. If you used the green baby eggplant, it is called "Gulla Sagle"and if purple eggplant has been used, it is called "Vaingana Sagle". I like them both!:) Some saute chopped onions in before adding the eggplants in. I like it without the onions and that's how I make it.It is pretty easy to make.

Servings: 4-6

Ingredients:

Baby Eggplant: 1 lb
Coconut oil: 1 tbsp
Mustard seeds: 1 tsp
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Freshly grated coconut: 1 cup
Dried red chillies: 4-6 medium sized ( depending on your spice level).
Tamarind: marble sized if using dry, 1/4 tsp if using the pulp.
Coriander seeds: 1 tbsp
Fenugreek seeds( methi seeds):  1/4 tsp
Water: 1/2-1 cup for grinding the paste.
Salt: as per taste
Jaggery/ brown sugar: 1 tsp

Method:

Roast separately the coriander seeds and fenugreek ( methi) seeds and keep aside.

In a blender/mixie/ food processor,grind together freshly grated coconut, dried red chillies, tamarind, salt and jaggery  into a fine paste, using water to grind as required. When the paste is almost done, add in the roasted and cooled coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds.

Wash the eggplants thoroughly. Take each eggplant, hold it upside down and make 4-5 slits in it without cutting through the stem.

Using a teaspoon, take little of the ground paste and stuff it into the eggplant via the slits. Keep it aside on a plate upside down. Stuff all the eggplants in this manner.

Heat coconut oil in a frying pan/ sauté pan. Add mustard seeds. When the mustard seeds splutter, add curry leaves.

Now place each of the stuffed eggplant in the pan upside down. Pour in the leftover ground paste.

Cover and cook on low flame until the eggplant is cooked until tender.

Serve hot with rice/ roti/flatbread/bread.

A favorite Amchi( konkani) combination with this is rice and Dalithoy( dal). Just awesome! I am bringing this typical Amchi dish to Fiesta Friday # 51 to my friends there.This will be something new for them all to try! The very creative Jhuls@thenotsocreativecook and the wonderful cook, Juju@cookingwithauntjuju are the co-hosts this weekend. Fiesta Friday is gearing up for it's first anniversary party!
Enjoy!

Cooking made easy:

Eggplant once cut and left in air tends to get discolored ( it turns black). This can be prevented by putting the cut/sliced eggplants in salted water. Salted water is nothing but plain water to which 1/4 tsp salt has been added.

Tip for healthy living:

In Ayurvedic medicine, food plays a great role in healing. They classify different food groups based on their effects on the body upon consumption. They have food that is cooling to the body hence great to be consumed during summertime and if you have inflammation in your body; e.g: ash gourd, bottle gourd, ridge gourd etc. Then you have vegetables that produce heat in the body and are great winter foods; e.g: ginger. Now there are certain foods that impede healing and unfortunately eggplant is one if them. Therefore if an individual has inflammatory condition, surgery etc, it is recommended that they do not eat eggplant.

Food for thought:

A true lover always feels in debt to the one he loves. Ralph W. Sockman

Spicy Eggplant

My husband loves eggplant and I am always on the lookout to make different varieties of eggplant dishes. Other day I came across this very nice recipe for badane gojju posted by Sangeetha. She blogs at http://enelm.blogspot.com/. Being that I am a kannadiga, I am a little partial to these dishes. I liked that it was quick and easy to make with very few ingredients. I decided to give it a try.I didn't want it mushy, so I didn't make it mushy. Instead of sambar powder, I used rasam powder as I have lots of rasam powder in my pantry which I don't use much. My husband loved it! Here is the recipe with my twist on it.

Servings: 4

Ingredients:

Eggplant : 1 medium-sized, diced medium.
Cooking oil: 2 tbsp
Curry leaves: 1 sprig
Green chillies: 2 slit lengthwise.
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp
Rasam powder: 1 tbsp
Tamarind pulp: 1/4 tsp ( if using dried tamarind, use marble sized ).
Jaggery/ brown sugar: 1 tsp
Salt: 1 tsp

Method:

Heat oil in a skillet/ frying pan on medium heat.

Add the diced eggplant and sauté for 2-3 mins. 

When the eggplant seems a little wilted, add turmeric powder, slit green chillies. Sauté on low heat until the eggplants are half-cooked.

Now add the tamarind, jaggery, salt,rasam powder and curry leaves and sauté for 2 mins. 

Add 1/2 cup water and let it simmer until the eggplant is well-cooked.

Serve hot with rice/ roti/ bread.

Enjoy!

Cooking made easy:

When you cut eggplants, place the chopped pieces in cold water that has a pinch of salt added to it. This prevents the eggplant from getting discolored.

Tip for healthy living:

In the morning upon waking, wash your face lightly.The oil in the skin after sleeping is actually beneficial for the good health of the skin. This oil nourishes the skin, keeps it supple and young. When you wash this oil off, you are actually drying your skin.

The best time to wash your face thoroughly is in the evening/ night when you come home from outside. It is essential to cleanse your face free of the dirt/dust and grime. Never leave make-up on and go to sleep.

Food for thought:

The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet.Aristotle