South Indian-style Stuffed Eggplant

Italy, Greece, China, various Middle Eastern countries and India boast of delectable platters of stuffed eggplant (baigan) in different forms. For lovers of this vegetable fruit, preparing it stuffed – with cheese, ground meat, ground seafood, masalas etc. is a favourite way to enjoy eggplants.

Whenever I am entertaining vegan or vegetarian-only guests, I go all out to ensure that what I make is different from what they may be accustomed to – ingredients, flavour profiles and cooking style – and that what I make is more than a salad. For me, the challenge is usually in coming up with the main dish or entrée, as I want it to be truly representative of a main dish. Not all vegetarians eat cheese so this South Indian-style Stuffed Eggplant is one of my star vegan-vegetarian dishes. When the guest list is mixed – meat and non-meat eaters, I am pleased to see the carnivores also taking pleasure in the stuffed eggplant.

This stuffed eggplant is traditionally made with the smaller type round eggplants but we don’t really see that variety in these parts, however, we do get some small oblong shaped eggplants that work for this recipe. Even if you can’t find small eggplants, look for those that are of average size and not overly large. For this recipe, if you can’t find small eggplants, the filling will work for 4 regular/average-sized eggplants.

INGREDIENTS

For stuffing:

• 3 tablespoons oil
• ¾ cup chopped onions
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh root ginger
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• Chopped hot pepper, to taste
• 2 tablespoons toasted peanuts (unsalted)
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons fresh grated coconut, toasted
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 teaspoons garam masala
• 2 tablespoons tamarind pulp
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Salt to taste

For main dish:

• 6 small eggplants
• 3 tablespoons oil
• ¾ teaspoon black/brown mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon whole cumin/geera
• 1 cup hot water (optional, see notes)

DIRECTIONS

1. Add oil to a pan and place over medium heat to get hot.
2. Add onions, ginger, garlic and hot pepper, mix together, reduce heat to low and cook until the ingredients are fragrant and softened.
3. Grind together to make a paste – the cooked onion mixture along with the peanuts, sesame seeds, coconut, chili powder, garam masala, tamarind pulp and sugar as well as enough salt to taste (be sure to add enough salt as this will be the only time that salt is going to be added to the dish).
4. Cut each eggplant into quarters keeping the top part and stem intact (see pic).
5. Generously stuff each eggplant with the masala mixture (there will be some masala left back, this will be added during the cooking process).
6. Add the oil to a frying pan and place over medium heat. When oil is hot but not smoking, add the mustard seeds. As soon as they begin to pop and sputter, add the cumin/geera and immediately lower the heat to low/simmer.
7. Add the stuffed eggplant and cook for 3 – 4 minutes on one side. Add the remaining masala to the pan and turn the eggplants and let cook for 3 – 4 minutes on the other side. It is important to keep the heat low so that the masala does not burn.
8. Cover the pan and cook for 15 minutes or until a knife inserts easily into the eggplants. Let rest for 10 minutes covered before serving.

NOTES

• You can get raw peanuts and toast then in a dry pan. Do the same with the sesame seeds if you can only access untoasted ones.
• Do not omit the tamarind pulp as it balances out the flavour of the dish and brightens it. To make the tamarind pulp, take 1 tablespoon of shelled ripe tamarind and add 3 tablespoons of hot or boiling water and let sit for 5 minutes then rub the tamarind in the water to remove the pulp.
• This dish can be served dry or with a thick gravy depending on how and what you plan to serve with it. I opted to have gravy so I added 1 cup of hot water at direction # 8 before I covered the pan.
• Serve with rice or roti.