Eggplants in a North-South Sauce
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 4tablespoons olive or canola oil
- ⅛teaspoon ground asafetida
- ½teaspoon skinned urad dal or yellow split peas
- ½teaspoon whole mustard seeds
- ½teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- ½teaspoon whole nigella seeds (kalonji)
- ½teaspoon whole fennel seeds
- 1medium onion, chopped
- 2cloves garlic, chopped
- 1½pounds slim Japanese eggplants, cut crossways into 1-inch segments, or “baby” Italian eggplants cut in half lengthways and then crossways, into 1-inch segments
- 2medium tomatoes, grated, about 1¼ cups
- 1cup vegetable stock or water
- 1teaspoon salt
- ¼ to ½teaspoon cayenne pepper
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (6 servings)
133 calories; 10 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 11 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 399 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Pour the oil into a very large frying pan and set over medium-high heat. When hot, put in the asafetida and the urad dal.
- Step 2
As soon as the dal turns a shade darker, add the mustard, cumin, nigella and fennel seeds, in that order.
- Step 3
When the mustard seeds begin to pop, a matter of seconds, add the onions. Stir and fry for a minute. Add the garlic and the eggplant. Stir and fry for 4 to 5 minutes or until the onions are a bit browned.
- Step 4
Add the grated tomatoes, stock, salt and cayenne. Stir to mix and bring to a boil. Cover, turn heat to low, and cook about 20 minutes or until the eggplants are tender, stirring now and then.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Mark
Dan B - I think the dal amount is correct. In some Indian recipes, dal is used more like a seasoning than a legume.
Michele
A delicious and easy eggplant dish. No salting required. I had two globe eggplants that were a bit past their prime and needed to be used immediately. I made sure to chop them so that each piece had some skin. I subbed some Pomi chopped tomatoes for the fresh but otherwise followed the recipe exactly. Prep time was, at most, 10 minutes, plus 20 or 30 for cooking. Very nice.
Elizabeth Hudson Valley
I followed the recipe as written cooking it in an instant pot using the sauté function for most steps. After I added the stock/ tomato mixture, I stirred, put the lid on, and changed the setting to pressure cook for 3 minutes. Beautiful results which I served with seasoned lentils for a complete meal!
Daniella
Cooked exactly as described—fantastic. Served it with her Kashmiri Rice in Aromatic Broth. Madhur Jaffrey can do no wrong!
Laurie
Used yellow split peas, 1/3 salt, 1/2 oil, can of tomatoes, course pepper instead of nigella, ground cumin instead of seeds. Used water not stock. Delicious. Served with turkey dill meatloaf!
Laura
Very easy and very delicious
Anthony
I added a zucchini to two regular eggplants, did not have nigella and omitted the water as I used canned diced tomatoes with their juice. Served over quinoa. Very easy , very tasty. Will definitely add to repertoire as we love eggplant and it grows well in gardens here.
HenryLM3
Tasty. The sauce was a bit thin, even tho I didn’t add all the stock. Next time, I would take the top off for the last 5-10 minutes.
Bonnie
Delicious! A flavor profile a little different from most Indian dishes. Cooks up fast and easy. Great way to use the garden eggplants and tomatoes.
JessJ
This was delicious and very easy! My Indian husband loved it and he’s not a big eggplant fan. Went well with a paratha. I added a little more salt in the end but that might just be me.
Kathy
Now that I have the spices in my cupboard I’d add this to a regular rotation because it’s easy, tasty, a bit unusual in flavor, and I really like the texture of the stewed eggplant.
Christine
So I made this minus the nigella seeds and the dal since I have a bumper crop of eggplant from the garden this year and could not find these 2 ingredients nearby. Not authentic but still delicious. I will also use the delicata squash - lots of those in my garden too!
Kathy C
I found the asafetida, urad dal, nigella seeds and fennel seeds at a nearby Pakistani market. All but the asafetida came in pretty big (though incredibly inexpensive) bags, but this recipe turned out so great that I'm happy to have enough supplies for many more batches of it on hand!
Carl
Was low on eggplant, so used added cubes of delicata squash. Did final step under high pressure in multicooker for 15 minutes and cooked the rice while pressure depleted naturally. Result was delicious.
Gowri
The point in initially frying the urad dal escapes me. In South India, urad dal is either fried and ground to be a component of masala powder, or added at the end to provide crunchiness -' tadka' or 'vagar', it is called. The taste and texture of the dal was completely lost in the subsequent cooking with gravy.
Michele
Dan B -- it's a half teaspoon b/c you are making a masala or seasoning mix for the dish. Indian masala recipes usually call for some dal. See the Times recipe for sambhar masala for an example. (https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018036-sambhar-masala?action=click&...
Mark
Dan B - I think the dal amount is correct. In some Indian recipes, dal is used more like a seasoning than a legume.
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