Topic: Brinjal Bhaji side dish

[curryhell]

This is one of my all time favourite side dishes.  I have my own recipe which is quite good but not as good as some of the really fine brinjal bhajis that i have had the pleasure of eating.  Mmm, that smokey sweet taste with just  a hint of curry flavour.  So does anybody have any proven recipes they'd care to post.  Abdul, maybe if you have time you'd like to add this to the wagon

[Stephen Lindsay]

CH I've tried to replicate this too, without any recipes to go on, i.e. a bit of this and a bit of that, I'm pretty sure Pat Chapman might have a recipe and I'll post it if I can find it - let me know if this is any use?

Steve

[curryhell]

CH I've tried to replicate this too, without any recipes to go on, i.e. a bit of this and a bit of that, I'm pretty sure Pat Chapman might have a recipe and I'll post it if I can find it - let me know if this is any use?

Steve

That's basically what i did SL.  Not an overly popular dish due to the fact that it is invariably oily because of the nature of aubergines which act like sponges.  But i do love it when it's done really well.  Alas, few restaurants are able to do this . I've not come across a recipe and there isn't any in the PC books i have .  I've seen it cooked a couple of times and it was no different to most other bahji side dishes.  However, one occasion when it was chef's night off and the tandoori chef was cooking it for me, he part fried the chunks in the deep fat fryer first.  This obviously reduced the oil uptake when they went into the pan to create the final dish.  And that was spot on .  Then again he did the most amazingly tasty chicken phall, better than the curry chef in fact .  Unfortunately, he retired due to ill health .  Oh, memories   If you can find it SL i'll give it a go and see what we come up with :

[Stephen Lindsay]

CH I've found a couple of recipes and pasted them below - can't really say I'm attracted to the PC recipe - not what I think of  as a Brinjal Bhaji but anyway that's it in full plus another recipe from the Curry Expert software which seems a bit more BIR to me.


Brinjal Bhajee (from Pat Chapman

[DalPuri]

Hi CH,
 i remember making KD's version over 20 years ago as one of the first dishes to try from the book, and it brought a smile to my face 
it was very simple with no base, but the flavours seemed right.
I dont have it to hand but im sure its around the net somewhere.
I just found 2 videos, one of which is a south indian version which ive eaten many times in sri lankan restaurants. 

Cheers, Frank. 

Brinjal Fry - Ennai Kathirikai


Gregs Brinjal Bhaji

[curryhell]

Thanks guys.  There's enough food for thought there.  I must be getting old.  SL you just reminded me that a) i've got PC's curry bible.  It just doesn't happen to be with all my most popular curry books so i'd forgotten about it and b) i too have the curry expert program, which i'd completely forgotten about too:-\.  Would not have thought of looking in there :.   Cheers Frank.  Love the vids.  The traditional recipe looks interesting and the second one is more like a brinjal curry.  You too reminded me of the fact that brinjal can be called bengan so i didn't think to look for this in the curry secret .  Ok, on my shopping trip i'll pick up a brinjal and have a go and report back with my findings and results.  Let's see if we can nail another one

[curryhell]

Guys, before i had chance to try either of your suggested recipes i was fortunate to have a discussion with Abdul.  He told me how to cook brinjal bahji.  "It's simple" he said and "you have the advantage of having time to cook it properly".  Yes, it was simple but i managed to make the mistake of not having enough onions in the tarka stage, which is essential to getting loads of  sweetness into the brinjal.  I will post the recipe, hopefully Abdul won't mind, for all to try once i have cooked it again, just so i am satisfied i have got this one right.  I've got to say it tasted as good as most that i have eaten, certainly way better than a few i've had and with a bit of work i'm sure i can get it to one of the best.  It had "that smell", "that taste" in the oil which had infused into the brinjal.  Wow.

[curryhell]

I've now added the recipe in the side dishes section of the forum for those that wish to try it.