Brinjal Rice

Brinjal rice is an ideal dish for the lunch. The plus point about brinjal rice is u can have this rice without having any side dishes. It is very easy to cook even though the recipe looks a bit lengthy. My all time favourite side dishes for brinjal rice is curd raitha and tomato pickle. Try this, everyone will enjoy this

Serves 4 – 6
Ingredients:

1. Brinjal/egg plant – 400gms
2. onion – 2big
3. basmati rice – 2 cups(225 ml)
4. gingelly/sesame oil – 100 gms
5. mustard seeds – 1/4 tsp
6. bengal gram – 1 tsp
7. curryleaves – 2 sprigs
8. asafoetida – 1 tsp
9. turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
10. coconut grated – 2 tbsp
11. chana grams – 1 tbsp
12. coriander seeds – 1/2 tbsp
13. redchillies – 4 (dried)

Whole spices:

• green cardamom – 4
• cloves – 3
• cinnamonstick – 1″ piece

Garnishing:

• corianderleaves – 2 tbsp
• peanut – 100gms
• raisins – 50 gms
• ghee – 2 tbsp

Method of Preparation:

• Dice brinjal, wash and strain using a colander
• Cut onion into cubes of 1/2″ size and keep aside
• Heat oil 3/4 of the oil in a skillet and fry brinjal and onion separately with little salt and turmeric powder, drain and keep aside
• Roast chana grams, corianderseeds, redchillies and coconut grated separately until it is crispy, grind to a fine powder
• Grind whole spices to a fine powder
• Cook rice with little salt in enough water, strain and keep aside
• Heat the remaining oil in a wide pan,fry bengal grams till it is lightly brownish
• Add mustard seeds and let it crackle for sometime
• Add curryleaves and asafoetida
• Reduce the heat, add cooked rice and fry for sometime and stir in fried brinjal and onion
• Add ground whole spices and chana-coriander-redchillies-coconut mixture and mix well
• Remove from fire and garnish with fried peanut and raisins and chopped fresh corianderleaves

Note: you can prepare the coriander-redchilly-coconut-chanagram powder and store it in the refrigerator. This will reduce the preparation time to 10-15 mins