Yenneghai / Stuffed Eggplants

Stuffed baby brinjals is my all time fav spicy dish so i take extra care to make it well :)). Some of my friends are fond of this too..but guys i feel so bad that u stay overseas and don quite get to taste all the stuff i make. Am not boasting ok... but once wen i had prepared this before, bhavaji ate so much at one go that Gosh! i got tired of making chapatis for him and also took the day off from work :P Look at all my baby brinjals below...arnt they kinda cute??? hehe :))))



Am not sure if you get baby sized ones overseas. I believe you only get those giant brinjals right?? But don worry coz u can then cut into medium sized pieces and make yenneghai the same way as below. Its no fun as they are not whole...but then i promise it will taste just the same. This is really easy dish to make and it goes superbly well with chapatis and akki rottis.

Ingrediants:

To make Filling:
Onions - 2
Jeerage/Jeera - 1 tsp
Few Curry leaves
Fresh Coconut grated - 1 small cup
Sambhar Powder - 2 tsp
Dhaniya/Coriander/Cilantro Powder - 1 tsp
Kadle Pappu - 1 tsp
Bit of water

Method:
1. Fry chopped onions with jeerage and curry leaves with a tsp of oil. U need to fry this till u get this really nice aroma.
2. Now grind grated coconut with the powders and bit of water. Tip. Instead of grating and wasting energy what i do is cut the coconut into small pieces and grind them coarsely in the mixer. U can store this too in the fridge for a day or two and use wen requried.
3. To this now add the fried onions, pappu, some more water and grind into a paste. The finished product should look somewhat like chutney.Since this is what u would use to fill the egg plants , please ensure u don add too much water ok?

Method to make Sabji:
1. Wash and cut 2 deep shafts into each of the egg plants. Check if the inside of it is not rotten as you cut. You need to place them again in clean water after cutting, else they turn black inside.
2. Fill the above into these shafts and keep it aside.
3. Heat 7-8 tsps of oil. Since the name itself is Yenneghai..i hope you realise that yenne/oil is predomiant and therefore u should use it liberally. The oil should kinda flaot a bit here and there over the sabji onces its done!
4. Throw some mustard seeds and once they begin to splutter , begin to place the filled babies. Watch out for ur eyes wen you do this please coz the oil will begin to go mad wen u start placing it :)))



5. Till now it was all easy ...but cooking it well is the tricky part. After u've dumped them all, saute them a bit and then sprinkle water liberally. This is because the oil fries but its the water and the steam coming from it is what actually helps to cook.
6. Close the lid for 2 mins. Sprinkle more water if u feel its not cooking well.
7. Once its 80% cooked, add the rest of the filling all over it. This is what forms the gravy. Add salt as required and cook till 100%. Note that the top portion of each brinjal needs to cook well. So test a few to see if it breaks easily in tat region. If yes then ur yenneghai is READY!!!