Eggplant and Bitter gourd in Yoghurt
A finger-licking Vegetarian Dish. Fried eggplants and bitter gourd are added to a delicious yoghurt sauce. This recipe is my favourite way to cook bitter gourd and eggplant! Try it!
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Ingredients:
| Smaller sized bitter gourds or equal amount of other sizes bitter gourd. Should have a plateful of bitter gourd slices. | 5 | |
| Smaller sized purple coloured eggplants | 5-6 | |
| Turmeric powder | 1/4 tsp | |
| Salt | 1/4 tsp | |
| Oil, for deep frying (in a small wok) | As needed | |
| Large cloves of Garlic | 3 | |
| Grated coconut (firmly packed) | 1/2 cup | |
| 1 cup plus 2 -5 heaped Tbsp | Natural Thick set / Greek-style Yoghurt - | |
| 1/4 cup | Natural Thick Set Sour yoghurt (Homestyle, Indian yoghurt is ideal) may use sour cream instead | |
| Extra Yoghurt | As and if needed |
For Tempering:
| Sunflower oil | 1 Tbsp | |
| Mustard seeds | 1/2 tsp | |
| Dried red chillies, broken | 3-4 | |
| Fresh curry leaves | 2 sprigs |
Method:
- Rinse the bitter gourds well and slice off the tips. Cut into thin, even slices and remove the seeds from the centres.
- Marinate the slices with turmeric powder( 1/4 tsp) and salt (1/4 tsp). Set aside briefly while you prep other ingredients.
- Rinse and pat dry the eggplants. Cut off the tips. Cut into eight Chunky pieces.
- Heat the oil for frying in a small wok. First, fry the eggplant in batches. Fry till they turn golden brown and set aside.
- Next, fry the marinated bitter gourd in batches as well. Fry till golden brown. Don’t allow the bitter gourd to turn black, or the dish will be ruined. Keep an eye on it once it starts changing colour. Remove and set aside with the fried eggplant.
- In the same wok of hot oil, add 3 very large cloves of garlic and fry this also till they turn golden. Quickly remove from the oil. This is my secret addition to this special pachadi.
- Make the coconut paste: Add the grated coconut (1/2 cup ) and fried garlic cloves to a small mixer/grinding jar. Also, add 2 -5 large Tbsp of the thick-set/ greek style yoghurt. Grind this to an absolutely smooth ( not grainy ) paste. Add 2 Tbsp of yoghurt first, and add more as needed to get the smooth paste.
- Add this smooth coconut -yoghurt sauce to a bowl.
- Now add 1 cup of the natural set yoghurt as well as the Homestyle sour yoghurt (1/4 cup) , to the grinder and whizz a couple of seconds to turn into a buttermilk consistency. Add this to the bowl.
- Stir the yoghurt sauce well. Add salt to taste.
- Add the fried eggplant and bitter gourd to the bowl and mix through.
- Tempering: Heat the oil in a pan. Add the mustard seeds and allow to pop.
- Add the dried red chilli and curry leaves. Fry till bright in colour. Pour this over the vegetables in yoghurt.
- This dish needs to sit a while before serving, for the flavours to blend nicely. It is so delicious! After a while, sometimes, the eggplant will have absorbed the yoghurt sauce. In this case, you can just whip up some more yoghurt to a buttermilk consistency and add to the sauce.. Adjust salt.
Eggplant and Bitter gourd in Yoghurt
Notes:
- Two types of yoghurt are used for this recipe to get the yummiest taste. They are thick-set yoghurt / greek style yoghurt and Thick Set Indian Yoghurt which is sourer. You can use sour cream if you don’t have the sour type.
- You can also use only eggplant or only bitter gourd for this recipe, but the combination is amazing.
Key Ingredients: Yoghurt, Eggplant, Bitter gourd, Coconut, Garlic, Oil, Mustard Seeds, Curry Leaves, Dried chilli, Salt.
EAT AND TELL!!! Let us know if you tried – Eggplant and Bitter gourd in Yoghurt
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