Brinjal is the Indian English word for aubergines or eggplants. I first tasted this dish in a small family-run restaurant in the village of Orcha in North India. I hadn't heard of it but I asked the young waiter what he would recommend from the menu. That's always a good idea in small villages. Just because something is on the menu doesn't necessarily mean that it's in the kitchen. One time I ordered a tomato salad in a village restaurant in the Kerelan mountains and the waiter brought a plate of onion rings decorated with a few slices of carrot. He explained apologetically that as it was a public holiday the market was shut that day.
What made my first experience of fried brinjal extra special was the surprise of watching the cook roasting the vegetable over a gas flame. It was an open kitchen. Everything was open. The restaurant was really just an area in front of the house cordoned off from the street. The brinjal was hissing and spitting and the sparks were shooting upwards into the night sky. You might not experience this at home but it will still be entertaining. The roasting added a lovely smoky taste to the dish. Sveta had a severe stomach upset and was eating plain boiled rice and she probably found my ravings about how delicious the brinjal was rather annoying.
This recipe isn't difficult but it can be time consuming on account of the roasting. It takes about five or ten minutes but then you have to let the vegetables cool a little before you peel them. I go into this in more detail in my mutabel recipe, but the most important thing about the process is to remember to prick the skin of each brinjal all over with a fork. If you do, you'll have a brinjal with holes in it. If you don't, you will have an unpredictable and dangerous explosive device on your hands. Alternatively, you could boil the aubergines for 15 to 20 minutes then proceed as for the roasted vegetable. When doing it this way, squeeze out the excess liquid before chopping and mashing the aubergines.
Ingredients
2 large aubergines
1 small sweet red pepper
1 tomato
A handful of fresh, tinned or frozen green peas
A quarter teaspoon each of garam masala and red chilli powder
Salt
Oil
Roast the brinjals on a fork over a high flame. Hold one in each hand and let the flame lick them. Keep turning them and in five or ten minutes they will be charred black and starting to shrivel. The skin should be cracking and peeling a little. When they have cooled enough to handle, pick the skin off and rinse them under cold water. Chop them up then mash them in a flat-bottomed bowl or pan with a mashing utensil of your choice. You don't have to be too thorough about it.
Chop the pepper finely and crush or chop the garlic. Fry them in a little oil on a medium flame and while they're frying, chop the tomato. When the pepper has started to soften and there's a lovely garlic smell coming from the pan, chuck all the rest of the ingredients in. Give a quick stir, cover the pan and cook for another five minutes or so.