Baked Stuffed Eggplants

Amma doesn’t like to share kitchen space with anybody – she believes that it is entirely her territory meant to be left solely for her cooking glory. She has these million “never stated but understood” rules that apparently only a select few of her breed, like two of my aunts, understand.

My appa and I, of course, disagree thoroughly with this unjust discrimination – we demand our fair  share of space and more importantly the right to experiment in it. Half of the quality time I spend with amma is in the kitchen. So much so that she barred me from entering the kitchen today. Thankfully, I was fairly satisfied with the couple of dishes made yesterday – the vanilla cake and these baked stuffed eggplants.

Ingredients

• Brinjal/ Aubergine/ Eggplant – 1
• Onions – 1/2 cup (finely chopped)
• Tomatoes – 1/2 cup (chopped)
• Corn – 1/2 cup
• Ginger – 1 tbsp (finely chopped)
• Garlic – 2 cloves (finely chopped)
• Coriander – 4-5 twigs (finely chopped)
• Paneer – 100 gms (grated)
• Tamarind – a small piece (about half a walnut)
• Sea Salt – 1/2 tsp
• Olive Oil – 2 tbsp
• Turmeric – 1/2 tsp
• Chilli Powder – 1 tsp
• Salt to taste

Finely chopped onion with coriander, ginger and garlic

Filling for the brinjals
Method

1. Soak tamarind in some warm water. Cut the brinjal lengthwise into two halves. Scoop out the center to make a brinjal cup about 1/2 inch thick. Rub sea salt, some olive oil and tamarind in the insides and set aside for 10 minutes.
2. Toast both halves on both sides with olive oil in a non stick pan. Cover and cook on a low flame until brinjal halves are partially cooked.
3. Parboil the corn. Finely Chop the scooped portion of brinjal.
4. Heat some oil in a skillet, saute the garlic, ginger, coriander and onions until onions turn pink. Add the chopped brinjal pieces and saute until done. Add the tomatoes, corn, turmeric, salt and chili powder and saute for a minute. Take off flame. Add 3/4 ths of the grated paneer and mix well.
5. Take one half of the brinjal, scoop the filling (prepared in step  2 and 3) into the brinjal cup, top with some grated paneer. Proceed similarly with the other half.
6. Bake at 200 C for 15 – 20 minutes until the brinjal is cooked well. Insert a toothpick into the brinjal’s flesh to check if it has turned soft and is thoroughly cooked.

Serve with rice or rotis.

Baked Stuffed Eggplants – for the Recipe Marathon

Fellow recipe marathoners:

DK, Siri, Srivalli, Ranji, PJ, Curry Leaf, Medha, Priya, Bhawna, Raaji, Ruchii
Anu, Kamala, Roopa, Divya Kudua, Rekha, Divya M, Raaga, Lakshmi Venkatesh, Sripriya, Viji, , Kamalika,Pavani, Roochi, Karuna

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