Spicing It Up! Ghar Ka Khana

I love ‘ghar ka khana’ (Homemade Indian food). Don’t get me wrong I ‘graze’ around the city all day. From vada pao to Chinese food, I love eating out. But at the end of the day you want to come back to Mom’s home cooked meals. Well, since mom’s not around I am just going to ape one of her home cooked recipes. The spicy Aloo baingan recipe; since she uses her experience and not measurements in her recipes, I had to go with my measuring spoons and the odds to re-create Mom’s Aloo Baingan.

Aloo Baingan- Serves 4

Ingredients

Vegetable Oil (Tel) 1tablespoon

Fenugreek Seeds (Methi) ½ tspn

Fennel Seeds (Saunf) ½ tspn

Onion Seeds (Kalonji) ½ tspn

Green Chilli (Hari Mirch) 2, chopped

Potato (Aloo) 2, medium, quartered, keep them in water

Eggplant (Baingan) 4, small, quartered, keep them in water

Turmeric (Haldi) ½ tspn

Red Chill Powder (Lal Mirch powder) ½ tspn

Coriander Powder (Dhaniya powder) 1 tspn

Tomatoes (Tamatar) 1, large, chopped

Salt (Namak) to taste

Garam Masala Powder 1 teaspoon

 Method:

Heat oil in a pan then add in fenugreek seeds, fennel seeds and onion seeds to the pan. Allow them to crackle and turn a shade a darker.

Add in the green chilli, drain out the excess water and add in potatoes and stir. Allow the potatoes to cook on medium heat for two minutes.

Drain out the water and add in the eggplant to the pan. Stir. Add in turmeric, red chilli powder and coriander powder. Stir, put on a lid and cook on low flame for five minutes.

Add in the chopped tomato, stir, add salt and cook for five minutes on medium heat until the tomatoes are completely cooked.

Add in garam masala powder, stir and cook for two minutes on medium heat.

Turn off the heat and serve hot with rotis. See recipe in How to Make Rotis?