Aloo-Baingan Masala (Potato-eggplant curry)

Eggplant, aubergine, bringal or baingan(in bengali, "Begun") is one of my favorite vegetable and best thing about this vegetable is that any way you make it, it turns out so good. Even if you add it in other curry, it will make that curry more tastier. As it is a dark color vegetable, it has good nutrients,too. It helps control cholesterol levels and is also a source of folic acid and potassium. Nowadays, nutritionists are advising to intake more dark color vegetables. One adult should take at least 2 vegetables and 2 fruits a day and try to make your palatte more colorful. But that doesn't mean that light color vegetables and fruits has no food value. So, I added red capsicum in it to get more color in my palatte. It is very easy to make recipe and at the same time very tasty.


Ingredients :
Potato : 1(medium)
Bringal : 1 (medium)
Red , green or yellow capsicum : 1/2 cup(optional)
Tomato : 1(small)
Onion : 1 (medium)
Ginger-garlic paste : 2 tsp.
Green chillies : 2 (chopped)
Mustard & cumin seeds : 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder : 1 tsp.
Chilli Powder : 1 tsp.
Coriander powder : 1 tsp.
Oil : 2-3 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing

Method :

• Make medium size pieces of potatoes and bringals. Wash and keep aside.
• Chop onions & tomatoes and make ginger-garlic paste by grating them.
• In a hot pan, pour oil and shallow fry the potatoes and bringals seperately with little salt and turmeric. Keep them aside.
  
• In the same pan, pour little more oil (for this dish you don't need much oil). Then add mustard and cumin seeds together. Wait till mustard seeds crackle and cumin seeds turns little brown, then add ginger-garlic paste and stir for 1-2 minute. Then add onions and when onions turn soft, add tomatoes and green chillies.
• As soon as the tomatoes get soft, add turmeric, chilli and coriander powder and mix together and stir until masala cooks and oil comes out. Then add potatoes and bringals. Then pour just enough water to cook the potatoes and in low flame cook until vegetables are tender and nicely coated with gravy.
• Garnish with fresh coriander leaves and serve with hot chapatis or plain rice.

I am totally a vegetable lover.Even though, I am a non-vegetarian, I take more vegetables than fish and meat. In India, we have so many varieties of vegetables available, I think it's not so hard to be a vegetarian. So, I'm sending this recipe to Tasty Palatte for her Vegan ventures Round 2...........,

Did you know : "Eggplant is richer in nicotine than any other edible plant, with a concentration of 100 ng/g (or 0.01mg/100g). However, the amount of nicotine from eggplant or any other food is negligible compared to passive smoking. On average, 20lbs (9kg) of eggplant contains about the same amount of nicotine as a cigarette." Wiki says.