Khatta Baingan- the awesome , tantalizing taste of brinjal!



Awesome tantalizing taste of brinjal

 If you are a Vegetarian, then you have best of the health. For a person who’s a Vegetarian, sometimes it is a challenge what variety to prepare everyday? With the same ingredients but just by working out different permutation combination, you may prepare exciting food which will simply tantalize your taste buds. Brinjal (eggplants) is a tasty vegetable and when prepared with different ingredients then it might give marvelous tasty dishes. Last week I tried Khatta Baingan or sour eggplant. Let me share the recipe with all my readers.


Ingredients: (for preparation of 4-6 persons)

Brinjal/Eggplants (8-10 pieces of moderate size),

Onions (3 medium sized grated),

Coriander powder (1 teaspoon),

Cumin powder (1 teaspoon),

Ginger-garlic paste (1 teaspoon),

Red chili powder (½ teaspoon),

Turmeric powder (½ teaspoon),

Yoghurt/Curd (2 tablespoon),

Tamarind paste (prepared by soaking 10gms.of tamarind in 10cc of water and extracting the liquid)

Salt as per taste,

Oil for frying.

Procedure: Procure farm fresh eggplants/brinjal from the market and cut into longitudinal pieces. A single eggplant may be cut into 4 equal sizes. Marinate with little salt and turmeric powder for about 5-7 minutes. Heat little oil in a pan and start frying the eggplants. This dish does not require lot of oil as eggplants release its own water content and softens in a few minutes. Cook for about 7 minutes till the eggplants become soft. Remove them and keep apart. Dash grated onions into the oil in the frying pan. Add ginger-garlic paste, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt into it. Cook the spices nicely till it emits a nice mind boggling flavor. Add yoghurt/curd to it. Add the eggplants which were already fried. Mix the ingredients well with the eggplants. Add the tamarind extract to it. Your very much desired Khatta Baingan (sour eggplants) is ready. You may serve it with chapatti.

You will love the sour taste of brinjal/eggplant. I guarantee that this is a nice combination and you may enjoy it with chapatti/paranthas as well as steaming hot rice. Enjoy vegetarian food; enjoy the different spice of life!

Baked Nile Perch- African wonder ; awesome taste.

Nile Perch is a kind of predator fish available in the rivers of Africa- Nile, Niger, Congo, Senegal and Lake Chad. This fish is widely available in fresh water even brackish water. It needs large amount of oxygen for breeding and normal functions. It’s found in large sized that may go up to 10 feet in height. Its flesh is sold in form of fillets to East African and Central African countries. Extremely nutritious in food value, this fish can be cooked in various forms with veggies and enjoyed along with family. My experiment with Nile Perch last week was extremely successful and my entire family enjoyed Baked Nile Perch. Let me share the recipe along with my readers.

Ingredients: (for preparation of 4-6 persons)

Fillets of Nile Perch (400 gms.),

Ginger garlic paste (1 teaspoon),

Tomato sauce (2 teaspoon),

Green chili Sauce (1 teaspoon),

Mustard sauce (1 teaspoon),

Onions (1 medium sized one grated),

Capsicum (1 medium sized one grated),

Lemon juice (1 teaspoon),

Salt as per taste,

Mixed herbs (a pinch) [Standard form available in the market a combo of oregano, basil, rosemary and parsley leaves in dried condition],

Ground black pepper (a pinch),

Oil (1 teaspoon).

Preparation time: 30 minutes

Procedure: The fish fillets are to be cut into pieces of 3”- 3”. Marinate them with ginger-garlic paste, tomato sauce, green chili sauce, mustard sauce, lemon juice, salt and 1 teaspoon oil. Keep the fish in marinated condition for 10 minutes. Place the grated veggies (onions and capsicum) over it. Place the entire content in an aluminum foil and wrap it from both sides. Then put it in oven at 220degrees for 30 minutes. Remove it after 30 minutes and serve it with rice/ugly. The fish becomes extremely soft and the veggies taste truly awesome along with it.

This is an extremely healthy food with the least amount of oil/calorific compounds used here. A typical African preparation enjoyed people of all ages.