This month, I am joining up with a new challenge. I have joined it up more to push myself to blog. Every time, I feel that my creative juices are getting stuck, so such challenges are good enough to get me thinking out of the box. The posts I am scheduling this month seem to be majorly challenge posts too, hehe… Vidya and Jolly jointly conduct the A-Z Recipe Challenge, where the members cook from an alphabet every alternate month. The beauty of this challenge is you pick up an ingredient which starts with the concerned alphabet and cook with it. I had become a part of the group in October but waited till I would feel fine to join in. When the alphabet “E” was declared for January, I gave my name but I had forgotten that I would have my whole entourage at home and that would mean limited experimenting. Since I had already signed up, I quickly picked my dish and made sure I clicked it, so that I don’t miss the challenge. 🙂
So for the letter “E”, I decided to choose “eggplant”. Eggplants are also called aubergines or even more as brinjal. This purple colored vegetable is available in various sizes and shapes. It is a vegetable I rarely cook with, since it hardly has any takers. But whenever I have cooked it, it has been accepted well. The most frequent way it gets cooked in my home is in this dal curry for lunch. Here are other recipes that include this humble vegetable:
It wasn’t tough choosing the recipe to cook for this challenge. It had to be something that got me back to my roots. Umma would occasionally make stir fry with eggplants when it is available in season. Right now, the huge eggplants that come from Oman are plentiful and well priced. Not that I loved it thanks to its slimy texture once cooked, but I would nonetheless eat it. After all, did we ever have an option of saying “no” to whatever our mothers cooked for us? 🙂 Nowadays, kids are way too vocal with their dislikes and even if we tell them, “It’s fine, don’t eat!” like I do, they would still fix up something for themselves with whatever is available in the fridge. 😕 Anyway, coming back to the dish, this is a simple dish that comes together very easy and is like comfort food with rice, some moru curry and a piece of fish fry! I actually eat this into my rice so that I don’t feel much of the sliminess! HD loves it and enjoys it a lot, and mostly ends up eating majority of what is made. Hehe… Off to this super easy recipe…
Vazhuthananga Upperi/ Mezhukupuratti ~ Malabar Eggplant Stir Fry
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- 2 shallots pearl onions/ cheriyulli, peeled and chopped
- 2 green chillies slit
- 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
- 1/4 tsp red chilli powder
- 1/4 tsp fennel powder
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Chop the eggplant into small pieces. It is not necessary to remove the skin. Wash well, sprinkle some salt and keep in a colander till use.
- In a saucepan, heat coconut oil. Splutter mustard seeds. Fry the curry leaves.
- Add the shallots and green chillies and saute for a minute.
- Add the eggplant along with the spice powders and salt and give a good toss.
- Cook on low flame, stirring occasionally till wilted and cooked.
- Serve hot with rice and curry.
I love all the warm spices that you have used here…it looks really yummy!
Thank you so much Angie…
This looks yummy! I love experimenting with eggplants in my kitchen – must try this out! 🙂
Thank you so much Priya… 🙂
I make this mezhukuparetti on a drier side as I don’t like this veggie much..must be delicious with hot steamed rice but somehow am not a big fan of this !!
Even I am no fan… once in a while, I make if I have no other option, hehe… Thank you so much Julie…
it is ages since I made vazhuthanaga mezhukkuperatti. I am waiting to go to my mom and get her to just do a huge plate of just this and gobble it up, no shares.
Thank you so much Seema…
Looks super yummy ..just need some roti
Thanks a lot Gloria…
Simple yet so yummy!
Thanks Nora…
Upperi looks delicious. I love spicy and tangy curries. Bookmarhed it.
Thanks a lot Shobhaji…
An easy to make and delicious stir fry. I will add fennel powder next time. Hubby and I are eggplant lovers.
We add saunf literally to everthing! Thanks a lot Mayuriji…
I love the different flavors you’ve used for the curry — coconut oil, fennel, along with the regular spices 🙂 I have never tried fennel in eggplant curry but it sure sounds interesting! Have to give it try. Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much Ashima… we add fennel to almost everything that we make… 🙂
Wonderful stir fry, especially i love these sort of simple, easy and delicious stir fries. Malabar eggplant stir fry looks fabulous with have with a bowl of rice and some papads.
Thank you so much Priyaakka…
I am a big fan of malabar cuisine. This dish sounds super delicious and scrumptious. Thanks for sharing this super easy and flavourful recipe.
Thank you so much Geetha…
This sounds so flavourful and lip-smacking. Loved the spices you used. Bookmaking it to try soon.
Thank you so much Sujata…
Eggplant is a happy veggie at my place. Your stirrup sounds so flavorful ! Next time, will add fennel seeds powder . Thanks for the share.
Thank you so much Poonam…
That is such a simple eggplant recipe and yet very comforting one. I love the addition of fennel powder as it would have added a totally different layer of flavor.
Thank you so much Sandhya…
Lovely flavours here so different and it looks so delicious, would love to dig in with some hot steaming rice.
Thank you so much Renu…
The simplest of dishes somehow touch the heart the most. I have never ever used coconut oil while cooking eggplant and this is something I would like to try soon.
Thank you so much Aruna…
Rafee, you know my fondness for Eggplants by now. Haha. We make the Mezhkuparatti minus shallots and like HD, prefer to be mixed with rice or make a quick rasam and enjoy. Either ways, I adore this simple stir fry. Glad to have you on board and looking forward to your other fab entries in months ahead.
Thank you so much Vidya… hope you make this and enjoy…
Stir fried Baingan ki sabzi looks so delicious and tempting…Pass me some rotis and I’m good to go…Yummy share!!
Thank you so much Jolly…
Looks amazing and so simple to make! Would love to have this with rice and dal!
Thank you so much Vanitha…
Eggplant in any form is loved by me always This version of malabar touch is looking so mouthwatering
Thank you so much Sasmita…
Such and simple yet flavourful dish. I will love to have this along with y dal chawal or hot chapatis!!
Thank you so much Swati…
Simple yet flavourful recipe with eggplant……..goes well with rice as well as roti……will surely give it a try…….. 🙂
Thank you so much Jayeeta…
This looks so delicious that I will be making this for lunch tomoro. My love for eggplant is ever increasing seeing all these recipes
A super simple yet delicious curry…would love to try it soon..all the ingredients r too simple nd always available in every house hold and thats what I love the most when we do not have to plan ahead a lot for cooking something..awesome share👌☺
Wow such a nice n easy recipe. I am glad you blogged this one to the fancy ones. Simple everyday food is what we are stuck n need to have a variety.
When you add salt n keep the eggplant does it not become black??
Haven’t faced such a problem, Archana… thank you so much dear…