Description
A spicy tangy smoky eggplant chutney famously called as Andhra style kalchina vankaya pachadi in South Indian cuisine. Serve with rice or can be used a dip to crackers.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 large Eggplant
- 2 medium ripe tomatoes
- 4–5 green chillis
- 5 garlic pods
- 1 small lemon sized tamarind(soaked in warm water for 5 min)
- 1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
- 1/2 tablespoon sesame seeds
- 1/2 tablespoon groundnuts(optional)
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil or groundnut or vegetable oil
- rock salt or sea salt to taste ideal 1/2-1 teaspoon
For Tadka
- 1 teaspoon oil
- 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1 teaspoon urad dal
- 1 teaspoon channa dal
- 2 dried red chilli broken
- 1 spring of curry leaves
Instructions
Preparing Eggplant
- Wash the eggplant well and pat dry it. Rub a few drops of oil all over the eggplant and insert a metal skewer into the belly of the eggplant.
- Place the eggplant on direct flame, keep rotating and grill on all sides until the skin gets burnt.
- Allow it to cool down and peel the skin carefully. Cube it and ideally place in a strainer so the recess liquids can be drained off.
Preparing tomato chilli mixture
- While the eggplant is cooling down, heat oil in a pan and fry fenugreek seeds for a couple of minutes on low flame until they turn reddish-brown.
- Add green chillis and fry for a minute carefully as they can splutter very easily.
- Add in chopped tomatoes and cook until soft. this will take 5- minutes on low to medium flame. In the last few minutes, add in tamarind and garlic cloves too. Switch off the flame and allow to cool down.
Grinding Chutney
- Take a mixer jar, add toasted sesame seeds, roasted groundnuts(check notes), cumin seeds and grind into a coarse powder.
- Then add in cooled down tomato chilli mixture, cubed eggplant, salt and pulse roughly to not a very smooth textured chutney.
Tadka/Seasoning
- Heat oil in a pan and splutter mustard seeds, then add urad dal, channa dal, red chillis and curry leaves, fry for a couple of minutes and pour hot on the chutney.
- Serve with hot rice or use as a dip for crackers.
Notes
Check for the detailed post above on tips to grill the eggplant on the flame.
Adjust the green chillis according to your spice preference and type of chillis.
You can use either sesame seeds or groundnuts or a combination of both.
If you don’t have tamarind add another small tomato instead.
Always add less salt first while using rock salt as the measure can go wrong.
the nutritional information is only an estimate using online calculators,always check your food labels for accurate values.
- Category: Condiments
- Method: Stove Top
- Cuisine: Indian