Dahi wale Baingan

Brinjal in Curd /Dahi wale baingan

The vegetarians love it. The non-vegetarians don't mind it, the brinjal haters [My father-in-law] become a convert and the allergic[my sister] would eat this dahi alone. I am honestly not exaggerating. This recipe is really a hit. It is such an easy side dish. Though I prefer to have it as a main dish served with hot rotis at dinner time alone. The bhaghaar or the chaunk and the saltiness of the curd is what  makes this so special. Salt should be added on the higher side,because less salt makes a huge difference to the taste.

Ingrediants
1 medium size round brinjal
250gms fresh curd

Ideal size of the Brinjal for this recipe

Oil
3/4 tbsp Ghee [Clarified butter]
Turmeric powder
Chilli powder
Salt
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp nigella seeds [kalonji or mangrail]
1 tsp fennel seeds [ must] [bada saunf]
2 small dried red chillies
1/4th cup water

 Preparation

1. Slice the brinjal in round slices.Coat the pieces with turmeric and salt.
2. Shallow fry the slices in oil till it is brown.
3. In a separate bowl,whisk the curd smooth. Add water to make it slightly thinner. Put aside.
4. In a small pan heat ghee, put the cumin seed, mustard seed, nigella seeds, fennel seeds and dried red chillies and fry till brown. This is called a bhaghaar or  chaunk.
5. Pour this mixture over the curd.
6. Add salt little by little and mix till it salty enough. 
7.  Place the brinjal pieces in the curd mixure.
8. Top it up with red chilli powder.
9. Serve cooled.

For those who are new to the process of  bhaghaar or  chaunk [Tempering], best results come when you do it in smallest pan u can get[ size of small bowl] .

This recipe of mine is a slightly modified version of the recipe at this site .