#ANDHRA STYLE BRINJAL CHUTNEY/VANKAYA PACHADI

I have been getting a lot of requests for Andhra style chutneys pickles and sweets. So I thought I’d start off with my all time favourite brinjal chutney. It is spicy and tangy and goes well with rice.

Here is how I make it:

You would require:

Brinjals – ½ kg

To be ground coarsely:

Oil: 2-3 tbsp
Bengal gram dal/senaga pappu/chana dal : 2tsp
Urad dal/minappa pappu :2 tsp
Mustard seeds/ avalu : ½ tsp
Cumin seeds/jeera : 1 ½ tsp
Methi seeds/fenugreek seeds/menthulu :1/4 tsp.
Dry red chillies : 3-4
Hing/asafetida : ¼ tsp
Green chillies : 3-4 or according to taste
Curry leaves : few.
Tamarind : size of a small lemon.
Garlic pods: 3-4(optional)
Turmeric: ½ tsp.
Salt : to taste.

For tempering:

Oil : 1-2 tbsp
Jeera : 1 tsp
Mustard seeds : 1/2 tsp
Hing : ¼ tsp
Curry leaves : few

The making of this chutney can be broken down into three phases for easier understanding and remembering.

Phase 1:

The first step involves chopping the brinjals into small pieces and then frying them in a pan. I have used the round large brinjal for this purpose. I chopped the brinjal into 1” cubes. I then put some oil in a non stick pan, added the brinjal pieces once the oil was warm, covered and then cooked the pieces on low heat stirring occasionally. The idea is to see that the pieces get softened due to the heat inside the pan and the moisture inside from the brinjal pieces.

Once the pieces turn soft and change colour, remove the pieces from the pan and set them aside to cool

Phase 2:

The second phase would be making the coarse chutney powder.

Heat oil in a pan. As the oil turns hot add the chana dal and udad dal. Keep frying till the seeds change colour slightly. Now add mustard seeds, cumin seeds and red chillies. Keep stirring to ensure that nothing burns as it would turn the chuney bitter. Now add the hing and stir. Add the garlic pods, green chillies, curry leaves and turmeric. Mix everything well.

Allow this mixture to cool. Add the tamarind piece and grind it into a coarse paste. Make sure that there are no seeds in the tamarind. Alternately you can make a paste out of the tamarind by soaking it in lukewarm water and use that. (We are making a coarse powder because we would further grind after adding the brinjal pieces.)

To this coarse powder, add the brinjal pieces and salt and grind further. You can add red chilli powder also at this stage for extra heat. It depends on your personal choices and taste.

Remove the ground chutney and keep it aside.

Phase 3:

Prepare some tempering with jeera, mustard seeds hing and curry leaves and pour it over the chutney. Add some chopped coriander for garnishing. Mix well. Serve with rice.

If you want to be a bit more adventurous, you can try it with rotis and pulkas too. :P