Mahanandi

In old times, the marriage feast in our areas always included brinjal-ginger curry. Considered a classic both in taste and aroma, brinjal-ginger curry brings out the best of both ingredients.

Recipe:

10 round brinjals - (purple or greenish-white)
1×1 inch fresh ginger
4 green chillies
4 sprigs of fresh cilantro
½ tsp of salt and turmeric each
For popu: 1 tsp each - mustard seeds, cumin, urad dal, curry leaves and 2-3 pieces of dried red chillies

Preparation:

Brinjal: Wash and cut brinjal into bite sized pieces. Take water in a vessel; add 1 tsp of salt and mix. Add the cut brinjal pieces to this salted water. This is again an old-time tip, to prevent discoloration and onset of sourness in cut brinjals.

Ginger: Scrape the skin and wash. Finely chop ginger, green chillies and coriander. Add pinch of salt, make a smooth paste in a mortar or using a blender, without adding any water.

Curry: Heat one teaspoon of peanut oil in a wide pan. Add all the popu ingredients listed above and toast them till the seeds start to splutter. Take cut brinjal pieces from water, fistful each time, add them to the spluttering popu ingredients. Stir in the ginger paste and turmeric. Mix them all together, reduce the heat to medium-low. Cover with a lid and cook, stirring only once for about 10 minutes. When the curry starts to smell incredible, pieces turn to soft, sprinkle salt, mix and turn off the heat. Serve with rice and dal.

Brinjal-Ginger Curry, rice, tomato dal and little bit of ghee - savoring the tasty stroll in Andhra food heaven.

note to readers: Add salt at the end (so that brinjals can cook fast) and the recipe works only with fresh green chillies, don’t substitute with red chilli powder.