These stir fried and slow cooked eggplants taste not only delicious but also melt in your mouth. Baby eggplants or tender eggplants that are farm fresh are the key to this dish. Else you will end up with undercooked, seedy and hard brinjals that won’t be edible. When I made this to show you all the recipe, I used 8 medium sized brinjals weighing about 400 grams. I am sharing these details so you know how small these brinjals were. The recipe also makes the stuffing just enough for 8 eggplants. Any excess left over stuffing can be just added to the pan towards the end and sautéed for 2 to 3 mins. If you are using more eggplants, simply increase the quantities of the stuffing ingredients.

How to Make Stuffed Brinjal Fry

  1. Dry roast ¼ cup peanuts on a low to medium flame until they begin to smell good.
  2. Add ½ tsp cumin, 2 tbsp sesame seeds and ¼ cup chopped coconut and saute lightly without burning until the sesame seeds smell good. Transfer this to a plate to cool.
  3. Add 1 ½ tsp oil to the hot pan. Fry ¾ cup sliced onion to golden.
  4. Add 1 ½ tsp ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes off. You can also use 1 inch ginger and 2 to 3 garlic cloves. Saute them lightly without burning.
  5. Switch off the stove. To the hot pan, add 1 to 1 ½ tsp red chili powder, 1 tsp coriander powder and salt as needed. You can also add half tsp garam masala or skip coriander powder and use only ¾ tsp garam masala if you like it.
  6. Cool all the ingredients and add them to a blender. You can also add tamarind paste and very little jaggery. I prefer to use fresh lemon juice at the next step.
  7. Blend it to a slightly coarse paste. If you have not used tamarind, add lemon juice and mix well. Taste this mixture and adjust the spice and salt levels.
  8. Wash brinjals thoroughly. Keeping the stem intact, slit each of them partially. Keep them in water until used. Stuff each brinjal with the ground paste. Heat a pan with 1 tbsp oil, add curry leaves, hing and then the stuffed brinjals. Toss to coat them well with oil.
  9. Cover and cook on a low flame. Flip or toss them to the sides that remain uncooked. If needed, you can sprinkle 1 to 2 tbsp water, if your brinjals are not tender.
  10. When completely cooked, they will wilt off and the skin looks loose. Add coriander leaves. Keep them covered until you serve. Serve with rice, ghee, sambar or simple rasam.

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