Edgy Aubergine with the Thieves of Time

Holiday over guys! The thieves of your time are back. Back with the one and only show which promises to lead you by your shirttail through seething and sighing city streets and leave you lonely and stranded at particularly troublesome crossings. Which reminds us of the funny Sukumar Roy poem Thikana (The Address) where a man looking for an address is given an elaborate set of instructions which will bring him back right at the point where he started.

Hope you enjoyed your Durga Pujo, Dussehra and whatever else was keeping you away from our irresistible company. We missed you too campers. As for me and my co-blogger, we had been repainting the house (hope you like the font colour) and moving the furniture around (some new gadgets round here) a bit. 

Before I bore you with stuff like route maps shared through GPX files or the mating habits of the mountain goat let me slip in a Sunday recipe. This edgy aubergine number comes from Odisha and we have a poppy seed variation on this one in Bengal. The recipe I tried out today is without poppy seed and believe me it was lip-smacking delicious.

Here is Dahi Baigana[1] for you this Sunday -- I will call it Edgy Aubergine:

Started off with two medium sized aubergines, slicing them into thick, round pieces. Realised that I will need one more. So three aubergines sliced.

Fried the sliced aubergines in sunflower oil to medium brown and kept these aside. For the foron (sometimes translated as tadka in Hindi) I used a generous pinch of mustard seeds, a pinch of cumin seeds and eight to ten curry leaves.

Heating a tablespoon of sunflower oil in another frying pan I put the mustard, cumin and curry leaves in it. As the spices released their wonderful aromas I threw in fresh green chillies (chopped, five) and transferred the fried aubergines to the new frying pan pouring whipped curd (250 gms, Amul) over it, stirring gently.


Covering the pan I let it cook in low heat for around ten minutes. Finally I let my Edgy Aubergine stand for a little while before serving.

Serve with rice or parathas.    

(Add salt to taste. Whip the curd after adding salt to it.)

[1] This is not the copybook version of Dahi Baigana. While the ingredients are the same, I have juggled a little with the classic recipe.   


Copyright: Images and text copyright `Edge City Post' and Rajat Chaudhuri