FRIED BRINJALS WITH DRY CURRY LEAF CHUTNEY POWDER

I had made some dry curry leaf chutney recently to serve as an accompaniment with meals. Apart from serving it as a side dish this chutney powder can also be used to flavour some sabzis, make curry leaf rice using the left overs. Today I tried fried brinjals with this chutney powder and they tasted so good.

Ingredients:
Baby brinjals ....  1/4 kg ( you can use the slices of large ones too)
Curry leaf chutney powder ..... 2 tbsps  (recipe given below)
Tamarind juice or lime juice .... 2 tbsps
Salt ............. as needed
Oil ........ to deep fry

How to make Curry Leaf Chutney Powder:

Ingredients:
Curry leaves .... 2 cups
Dry red chillies .. 8-10 (as per your preference)
Chana dal ..........  2 tbsps
Urad dal ........... 2 tbsps
Sesame seeds ... 1 tbsp
Tamarind ......... lemon size ball
Jaggery ........... 1 tsp
Salt .............. to taste
Asafoetida ... 1/4 tsp
Oil .............. 2 tbsps

Method:
1. Wash the curry leaves after removing them from the stems. Dry them on a kitchen towel to remove the moisture.
2. In a pan dry roast the dals until light brown. Remove in a plate.
3. Also dry roast the sesame seeds. Remove from the pan.
4. Heat the tamarind in the same pan to soften it. Remove.
5. Dry roast the red chillies taking care not to make them black. Remove them.
6. Now heat 2 tbsps oil and reduce the flame. Add asafoetida and curry leaves. Fry them until crisp on low flame retaining the green colour.
7. Now dry grind all the ingredients together adding salt and jaggery to a little coarser texture.
Store it in a sterilized jar.

To Make the Fried Brinjals with this Chutney Powder:
1. Slit the baby brinjals into two leaving the stems intact. You can use the slices of a large brinjal if you don't find the small variety.
2. Make zig zag cuts on the surface and immerse them in salt water for half an hour or until you are ready to fry them.
3.Deep fry the brinjals until done. Remove them and set aside.
4. Lightly grease a shallow pan and place the fried brinjals. Sprinkle the chutney powder on them and squeeze a little lime juice or spoon tamarind juice.
5. Cover with a lid and simmer for few minutes.

Posted in: Indian Cook