When I was a teenager I used to visit a friends house…virtually daily. She used to be frequently annoyed when I would just stand and watch her mum cook. It facinated me and I would mentally clock her method and go home and write down her method.
I used to eat alot at her home. That was my favourite bit!
Food was cooked differently from how it was at mine and the smell was so encompassing I used to keep my fingers crossed I would be asked to stop for the meal.
It was decades later I understood what that one defining ingredient was that permeated my nostrils and played havoc with my head…I spent years consumed trying to recreate that smell.
After endless trials and tribulations I did it!
This dish, each time I cook it or others like it, I can now replicate that aroma. It could never be identical to those I enjoyed but its near and its full of nostalgia. I was 13yrs old but that was my first step into north Indian cuisine.
I have never looked back.
Here is my recipe to recapture 1 of many dishes that I hold dear.
Ingredients
1 large aubergine cut into 2 inch cubes or thick slices.
2 medium potatoes peeled and cut into thick strips or chunks like aubergines.
1 green pepper cut as above!
In a large pan add some oil.
1 tsp of tumeric in the oil and 1 tsp salt.
Fry the potatoes till golden brown, then do the same with aubergines. You want good colour and aubergines to part cook.
3 tbsp of veg oil
1 tsp of Cumin seeds
3 garlic cloves minced
1 medium-sized finely diced red onion
2 tsp of salt
1 stick cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
2 tsp Kashmiri chili powder
2 tsp coriander powder
½ tsp turmeric powder.
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Kasuri methi leaves
1 tsp of Gharam masala
Handful of fresh coriander
Garnish
1 tsp Kasuri methi crushed.
In the same pan add more oil so you have about 3 to 4 tbsp oil there.
Add the cumin seeds, bayleaf, cinnamon stick and tear the 2 dried red chillies into the oil. Stir till chillies and cumin change darker!
Add minced garlic…stir for few seconds then add onions.
When onions golden brown add 1 tsp garlic/ginger paste and stir in. Cook this well.
Add in your chopped green chillies, quick stir then add 2 blitzed fresh tomatoes.
Cook this for a while on low.
Then add your powdered spices, salt and sugar. Cook for few minutes stiring.
Then cover and cook on med for 5 minutes stiring occasionally till oil is split and floating.
Add half cup of water, bring to simmer.
Cook of the water content till oil splits again.
A good way is by making a well in the middle and watch for oil coming in and around outer sides.
Now add your aubergines, green peppers and potatoes. Give good stir.
Here I add few sliced green chillies. Cook covered on low till aubergines really soft and disintegrating and potatoes almost done.
Add 2 tbsp cream, 2 tsp Kasuri methi.
Stir in on low flame and cook with lid on for few more minutes.
Stir well, add fresh coriander and 1 tsp gharam masala. Stir again, add another tsp dried methi cook for 2 mins then serve hot.
It should be a thick creamy sauce of aubergines and a delectable aroma of methi and bell peppers.
Serve with hot chappatis or naan.
Step by step process below:
1 tsp of tumeric in the oil and 1 tsp salt.
Fry the potatoes till golden brown, then do the same with aubergines. You want good colour and aubergines to part cook.
Add the cumin seeds, bayleaf, cinnamon stick and tear the 2 dried red chillies into the oil. Stir till chillies and cumin change darker!
When onions golden brown add 1 tsp garlic/ginger paste and stir in. Cook this well.
Cook this for a while on low.
Then cover and cook on med for 5 minutes stiring occasionally till oil is split and floating.
Cook of the water content till oil splits again.
Now add your aubergines, green peppers and potatoes. Give good stir.
Here I add few sliced green chillies. Cook covered on low till aubergines really soft and disintegrating and potatoes almost done.
Add 2 tbsp cream, 2 tsp Kasuri methi.
Stir in on low flame and cook with lid on for few more minutes.
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