Vankaya Pachi Pulusu Recipe| Fasting recipe |Indian Style Eggplant Salsa| Instant Roasted Eggplant recipe| 15min recipe| Andhra Style Festive Recipe

Some days, we devour for the most simplest recipes with almost no cooking involved. This is such one absolute beaut. Roasted brinjals are quite famous for making Bhartha. Today’s recipe uses roasted eggplants in the simplest way. A sweet and sour dip style curry with a hint of chillies, this makes the best companion for the lazy days!

Ingredients:

200 gm White Brinjals (5-6 no.  medium sized)

1/4cup Tamarind Extract (from lemon sized tamarind pulp)

2 nos. Green Chillies

2 tbsp Grated Jaggery

2 tbsp Chopped Onions

1tbsp Chopped Fresh Coriander Leaves

Salt to taste

Ghee (just enough to coat the brinjals)

Water (1/2 cup to 1 cup)

Method:

1. Wash and dry the brinjals. You could as well pat them dry with a cloth.
2. Prick it with a fork on couple of places.
3. Grease the brinjal with ghee and roast over low heat using the mesh pan or you can place them directly over the stove. Flip them to all sides, to make sure it gets cooked evenly. This might take 5- 10mins. (depends on the size of brinjals and the size of mesh pan).
4. As they cool down, peel of the skin and mash the pulp with your hand or a fork.
5. Take a bowl and add mashed brinjal pulp, grated jaggery, tamarind extract, green chillies, salt.Add half a cup to one cup of water and adjust the consistency of the salsa.
6. Adjust the salt and top it up with fresh coriander leaves.
7. Serve it with hot rice or steamed mung dal rice.

Ghee is often used in festive recipes. This is optional and you could avoid ghee while roasting eggplants. This recipe tastes well with white brinjals. It is usually paired up with steamed mung dal rice, called ‘Athesira Annam’ in Andhra region. This rice item is usually paired up with Vankaya Pachi Pulsu or eaten plain with a huge dollop of ghee. Simple and comforting food, all together!

Notes:

1. Charring green chillies is optional. Poke a hole and smear oil before roasting them. If you don’t poke a hole or make a small slit, the chilli would pop on the stove. Freshly chopped chillies could also be added.
2. You can add tempering to the dip. Heat oil/ghee in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and let them splutter. Add the cumin seeds and urad dal and let the dal turn red. Add the red chillis, hing and curry leaves, fry for a few more seconds. Pour the tempering into the mashed up dip.
3. You could add some roasted sesame seed powder for enhanced taste.