Monday, August 20, 2012

Petite Eggplants in Posto/Poppy Seeds

I had promised Sharmila I’d make these and share the recipe. I am not big on begun; except of course our begun pora. Its no secret that I am no fan of vegetables. At the risk of sounding clichéd, vegetables make a pocket around my throat. Till today.

eggplantgarlicchiliMy Mother makes this recipe with great care. She’d score each tiny eggplant and stuff with potent green chillies and plump garlic cloves. I, however have taken the short-cut (read lazy) route and just sautéed the chillies and garlic with the eggplants. You, however should do it my Mum’s way.

Ingredients for Petite Eggplants in Posto/Poppy Seeds are:

8-10 petite eggplants, keep whole and just slit the bottom to form a “quarter”, while each eggplant still hangs from its stem
1 medium size red onion, slivered thinly
2 medium ripe, red tomatoes, chopped coarsely
10-12 fat cloves of garlic
10-12 plump-looking green chillies (I used green and Thai red)
Quarter cup posto/white poppy seeds/khus-khus
1 teaspoon red chilli powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
3-4 tablespoons Mustard/Canola oil
Sugar (optional)
Salt

IMG_4701Start by heating mustard oil in a wok/karahi. Drop the whole, slit eggplants and sauté them for 4-5 minutes. Add the green chillies and garlic midway of your sautéing process. Remove with a slotted spoon and keep. 

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If your eggplants have drunk all the oil, add a couple of spoons more. Now add the slivered onions and sauté them on high till they get a color of something in-between a glistening pink and tan brown. Add the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes with red chilli powder and turmeric, till juices start to surface up.

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Now add the already sautéed eggplants, garlic and chillies. Mix well, and coat them well with the onions and tomatoes. Add half the poppy seeds and season with salt and sugar. Cover and cook on low heat for five minutes. Check. At this point in time, you can add half a cup of water to the eggplants. This will help to cook them down.

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Continue to cook the eggplants on low-medium heat, covered all the time. After about 5-7 minutes, open lid, you will notice the oil surface on the sides. The color of the dish would have changed too. To a rich red.

IMG_4724Poke a skewer in an eggplant to see if its done. I like mine a little mushy. Now sprinkle the rest of the poppy seeds and crank the heat up. Adjust the consistency of the dish to how you will like it. I like my onion and tomatoes to be a little clingy to the eggplants. Makha makha in Bengali. The mushiness of the eggplants and the crunch of the poppy seeds will create an interesting texture to this recipe. And if you have stuffed the eggplants with the chillies and garlic, you will enjoy their juices permeate into the tiny purple begun.

IMG_4727Eat the Eggplants in Posto/Poppy Seeds with dal and rice or phulkas.

8 comments:

Sharmila said...

You remember! Thank you so much. All I do with these brinjals is the regular bharwa. Adding the whole posto makes this so inetresting. .. plus the garlic. Must remember to get some baby brinjals this weekend. Thaaaaaanku again! :-)

Shri said...

Sounds perfect Pree. Will try your mother's way.

Unknown said...

Begun posto ta dekhei khete ichha korchhe. Darun hoyechhe. Begun posto bhat or ruti dutor sathe bhalo lagbe.



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Anonymous said...

Excellent! So in this recipe, we don't need to grind the posto before adding to the pan ?

Unknown said...

Any reliable seed house can be depended upon for good seeds; but even so, there is a great risk in seeds. A seed may to all appearances be all right and yet not have within it vitality enough, or power, to produce a hardy plant.

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PreeOccupied said...

Sunshine And Smile, yes the posto seeds are kept whole in this recipe.

Hamaree Rasoi said...

Posto ta bato ni bole khoob shundor lagche...I too don't like begun except for bharta. but this looks delicious...

Unknown said...

This is also a very good post which I really enjoyed reading. It is not everyday that I have the possibility to see something like this.
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