Brinjal Pachadi
A spicy, tangy pachadi with fried brinjals, chillies and garlic. It is a rustic dish with tamarind, and raw onions that goes well with rice, roti or even dosas.
Servings 3
Ingredients
- 1 cup chopped brinjal (about 4-5 medium sized ones, or a small eggplant)
- 5-6 red chillies I used kashmiri chillies, so adjust heat to lesser if your chillies are spicy.
- 10 garlic cloves
- 2-4 tbsp oil
- 2 tbsp raw tamarind (dissolved in 2 tbsp hot boiling water)
- ¼ cup raw onions chopped
- few curry leaves
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Chop brinjals into tiny pieces and set aside in a bowl of water
- Add tamarind to hot water and set aside for ten minutes.
- In a pan, add oil and roast the chillies and garlic. Remove once they are fully fried and grind to a coarse powder.
- Add a little more oil and add the brinjals. Make sure the brinjals are well fried and fully cooked.
- To a bowl, add the chilli garlic mixture, the fried brinjals and mix well. Now, add thick tamarind extract and mix again adding salt.The tamarind has to be soaked in boiling hot water as we do not cook it any further.
- Add some curry leaves and raw chopped onios and mix well.
- Serve with hot rice and ghee.
Notes
- The beauty of this dish lies in balancing the tang from tamarind, spice from chillies with salt. So, check and add accordingly.
- Do not be concerned about adding raw tamarind - we are not! Adding it to hot water is cooking, so it will not taste raw.
- The onions add a fantastic crunch, and I highly recommend adding it.