Recipe- Traditional Andhra Style Brinjal Chutney

Vankaya pachadi is my most favorite chutney but somehow I took time to post this recipe on the blog.As always, this is also my mother’s recipe. She will make chutneys with all veggies. There are a lot of chutney recipes on this blog.Among all these chutneys, vankaya pachadi is my most favorite. This is a simple recipe with brinjal and few spices but will taste so good. We can do healthy and tasty recipes with very minimal ingredients.

Ingredients

250 gms brinjal
½ tbsp tamarind (small lemon sized)
2 red chilli
1 tbsp oil
6 garlic cloves
½ tsp coriander powder (dhaniya powder)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
¼ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp methi seeds (fenugreek seeds)
Salt to taste

Tadka

1 tbsp oil
¼ tsp cumin seeds
¼ tsp mustard seeds
Pinch of hing
1 sprig curry leaves
1 red chilli

Method

* Wash and soak the tamarind in very little water. Just enough to soak them up.

* Heat a kadai and dry roast cumin and fenugreek seeds little they turn little brown and take them into a mortar pestle.

* To the same pan, add tsp of oil and fry red chili. Take these as well to the mortar pestle. Adjust red chili accordingly.

* Add 1 tbsp of oil, chopped brinjals, and salt to the same pan. And let the brinjals cook on medium flame.

* Close the pan with lid so that brinjals are cooked in its own water
Meanwhile add turmeric powder, coriander seeds powder, garlic pods, fried red chili, roasted cumin, and methi seeds and salt to the mortar pestle.

* Roughly pound the ingredients.

* Add the soaked tamarind along with water to the mortar pestle and make a paste of it.

* Check the brinjals and switch off the stove once they are done. It took around 12 minutes for me but the cooking time depends on brinjals.

* Add the cooked brinjals to the mortar pestle and roughly pound these.

* Don’t mash it completely, chunky brinjal pieces will taste good once they get marinated in the masala paste.

* Take out the chutney into a serving bowl. Prepare tadka using tadka ingredients and add it to the chutney.

* Serve the chutney with hot rice and ghee. This chutney goes well with roti or Bakri or even dosa.