Eggplant Dal is an excellent dish that pairs well with steaming hot rice or chapatis. I just recently started cooking with eggplants, and this dish has become a regular in our home.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 kg Eggplant
- 1/2 cup Toor dal
- 1 Onion
- 2 Tomatoes
- 2 Green Chillies
- 1 tbsp Ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Garlic, finely chopped
- 2 sprig Curry leaves
- 2 tbsp Coriander leaves
- 1 tsp Cumin seeds
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 4 Red chillies (optional)
- 1/4 tsp Turmeric
- Asafoetida a pinch or two
- Salt as needed
- 3 tbsp + 1 tsp oil
- 1 cup Water or as needed
Recipe:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Wash the eggplants and cut off its stem. Slice them in half. Prepare them for baking by making shallow cuts on the skin 2 or 3 times with a knife and apply oil on both sides using a brush or a spatula. Place them with skin side up in a baking tray, lined with baking sheet, and bake them for 40-45 minutes. After its done, take out the baking tray and allow the eggplants to cool for few minutes. Then, peel off the skin and discard it. Place the flesh of eggplants in a bowl or a plate and mash it using a fork.
While the eggplants are baking, prepare the rest of the ingredients. Take toor dal in pressure cooker. Wash it off a few times and drain the water. Add turmeric, asafoetida, a cup of water, 1 tsp oil and pressure cook it for about 6 whistles on a medium flame. Once it is done, allow the steam to settle by itself. Keep it aside.
Chop the onion and tomatoes. Slice the green chillies. Keep the ginger and garlic ready.
Heat 2 tbsp oil in a pan on a medium flame and and in the onions and green chillies. Sauté them for 2 minutes. The onions will start to brown.
Now add ginger, garlic and curry leaves. Sauté them till the raw smell of the ginger and garlic leaves. Make sure not to burn them.
Next, add the chopped tomatoes. Sauté them and let the tomatoes cook.
Add salt and red chilli powder.
The tomatoes will start to turn mushy. At this point, add the mashed eggplants and mix them all together.
Turn the flame to low and add the cooked dal. Stir it up slowly binding them with each other. Add 1/2 cup water if needed(*Refer Notes). Bring it to a boil and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Check for salt. Add more if needed. Add in chopped coriander leaves and switch off the flame.
In a small pan heat 1 tbsp oil and add mustard seeds. Once it crackles add cumin seeds, followed by red chillies a sprig of curry leaves and temper them.
Pour it over the prepared curry. Serve hot with rice, any fry and papad.
Notes:
- While scoring the skin of eggplants make sure that the cut is not deep.
- After cooking the dal, check the water content in it. I had about 1/2 cup water left so I didn’t add any while mixing them all together. If you didn’t have any water left then add some.
- Do not add a lot of water though. You do not want a runny dal.
