Ingredient in focus : Brinjals
I went grocery shopping in the morning looking for vegetables to stock up for the week. I was left baffled by the number of varieties of brinjals / eggplants / aubergines that are flooding the markets! There are the tiny round ones, the longer variety, the big round ones we use for making bharta and there are as many colours too - green, white, purple and the purple ones speckled with white. I am not even sure if I have covered all the varieties available and to be honest I have definitely not cooked with all of them. Note to self - try more varieties asap.
I am not very sure if the taste varies greatly but I am inclined to believe that it must. I will be able to comment more once I try out all of them - which I must!
I researched the benefits of the king-of-vegetables aka brinjal and here is what I found.
That was quite a revelation and gives me even more reasons to try out newer recipes and uses of the good old brinjal.
Here are my top 5 brinjal recipes that I have cooked / tasted / would love to try
1. Baba ganoush - smoky, light and creamy. I love it as a dip with pita bread, spread on my sandwiches and obviously in a mezze platter
2. Eggplant involtini - the Italian dish has everything right about it eggplant, herbs, cheese and tomatoes
3. Bharli vangi or the stuffed brinjals - a Marathi delicacy. A must try for me particularly since I got married into a Marathi family :) Might just impress my hubby dearest!
4. Bharta - this HAD to be on the list, after all, who doesn't love baigan ka bharta!
5. Baigan ka salan - I have tried the dish a long long time ago. All that I remember is I had loved it and wanted to cook it. I had totally forgotten about it, until today that is!
Confession: I LOVE grilled vegetables and brinjals are my favourite-est (I just invented the word) vegetable to grill. Grilled vegetables taste good as a pizza topping, in a pasta salad, as a side dish and of-course in a sandwich. Go ahead and try grilling your favourite vegetables and using them as a sandwich filling - yummmm. OK I am hungry now.
I would love to hear from you - what are the brinjal recipes you love to cook, would like to cook or want me to cook and share the recipes with you?
I am not very sure if the taste varies greatly but I am inclined to believe that it must. I will be able to comment more once I try out all of them - which I must!
I researched the benefits of the king-of-vegetables aka brinjal and here is what I found.
That was quite a revelation and gives me even more reasons to try out newer recipes and uses of the good old brinjal.
Here are my top 5 brinjal recipes that I have cooked / tasted / would love to try
1. Baba ganoush - smoky, light and creamy. I love it as a dip with pita bread, spread on my sandwiches and obviously in a mezze platter
2. Eggplant involtini - the Italian dish has everything right about it eggplant, herbs, cheese and tomatoes
3. Bharli vangi or the stuffed brinjals - a Marathi delicacy. A must try for me particularly since I got married into a Marathi family :) Might just impress my hubby dearest!
4. Bharta - this HAD to be on the list, after all, who doesn't love baigan ka bharta!
5. Baigan ka salan - I have tried the dish a long long time ago. All that I remember is I had loved it and wanted to cook it. I had totally forgotten about it, until today that is!
Confession: I LOVE grilled vegetables and brinjals are my favourite-est (I just invented the word) vegetable to grill. Grilled vegetables taste good as a pizza topping, in a pasta salad, as a side dish and of-course in a sandwich. Go ahead and try grilling your favourite vegetables and using them as a sandwich filling - yummmm. OK I am hungry now.
I would love to hear from you - what are the brinjal recipes you love to cook, would like to cook or want me to cook and share the recipes with you?
Hey Nikita, any special idea behind the 'Focus Ingredient' post? Is this going to be a series? ....I love brinjal too...and one dish that you must try is the 'Imam Bayildi' , has Turkish origins and literally means ..'The Imam fainted'. A friend of mine introduced the story and inspired me to try it out : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C4%B0mam_bay%C4%B1ld%C4%B1 - the result was an unforgettable get together made memorable with a dish having an interesting story ! I urge you to try it out !
ReplyDeleteHey Shilpa, the idea behind the series is to introduce and share food experiences one ingredient at a time. Too often we overlook some ingredients because we dont like them or dont know how to go creative with them. Its a fun way to discover new cuisines and how they use traditional ingredients. Thanks for sharing the Imam Bayildi recipe - i will definitely give it a go soon and share it on the blog. I would have not been introduced to it had it not been for this post and ur comment on it.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for sharing the recipe with such a fascinating story to go with it. Also let me know of any other ingredient you would like to discover :)