Vankaya Kobbari Karam | Andhra style Stuffed Brinjals

We are just back from a long holiday to Kerala-God's own country which we were planning since long and it finally happened.It was quite rejuvenating and we had a wonderful time in Kerala and would definitely share more details regarding our trip later.It is very difficult to get back to routine especially after a long holiday and I will slowly visit your blogs in a couple of days.I am posting a recipe today from my archive.
I have posted lots of stuffed vegetable recipes with Brinjals,Tindora,Poblano Peppers and Bitter gourds.I have a special liking towards the stuffed vegetables as I just love to eat them with rice.If you are like me you must check out my other stuffed vegetable recipes like Vankaya Ullipaya Karam , Andhra style stuffed mirch, Dondakaya Ulli Karam, Stuffed Karela, Kakarakaya Ulli Karam. All these stuffed vegetables makes a nice combo with rice and can be even served as a side dish with sambar or dal or rasam rice.

Vankaya Kobbari Karam | Stuffed Brinjal Recipe:

(Serves 3-4)

Ingredients:

10-12 baby Brinjals/Eggplants

1/2 cup grated fresh Coconut (or even coconut pieces of 2/3 cup approx)

a small bunch of Coriander leaves(approx 1 cup)

4-5 Green chillies

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Tamarind pulp

Salt to taste

to temper:

2 tbsp Oil

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

10-12 Curry leaves

a pinch of Asafoetida

Method:

• Mark a cross and cut through the 3/4th portion of brinjals and take care that you would not cut them into pieces.Drop them in a salted water for 10 mins,this way it will remove the bitterness if any in the brinjals.
• Grind coconut pieces(or grated coconut),coriander leaves,cumin seeds,green chillies,salt and tamarind pulp to a very coarse mix.Do not grind for long,just grind it enough to get a coarse mixture.
• Stuff the eggplants with the ground mixture liberally and keep them aside.
• You can follow any of the two methods which I mention below to make these stuffed eggplants.
• option-1: Heat oil in a small cooker and crackle mustard seeds and add curry leaves and asafoetida and add stuffed baby eggplants and fry for a minute or two and sprinkle water -roughly 2-3 tbsp and add a generous pinch of salt on the eggplants and give a stir and cover it with lid and pressure cook for 1 whistle on medium-high flame.Let the pressure drops off on its own.Open the cooker and check if any water is residing,if there is any water content switch on the stove and cook for 2 minutes on high flame with the lid open until water evaporates.
• option-2:Heat oil in a wide kadai and crackle mustard seeds and add curry leaves and asafoetida and add stuffed baby eggplants and fry for 3-4 minutes.Add a generous pinch of salt on the eggplants and give a stir  and cover it with a deep lid and pour water and in the lid and let the eggplants cook with the steam produced in this manner over low flame.It takes roughly 12-15 mins.Keep checking in between and also stir once in a while.If the water evaporates in the lid add some more water to it,otherwise the eggplants will get burnt.

Serve them hot with hot rice,ghee and papad.You can serve it as a side dish for rasam,sambar and dal rice.

Notes:

1. You can add the ingredients according to your requirements.You can even increase the quantity of coriander leaves in the stuffing if you want.Also adjust spicyness according to that.
2. The same stuffing can be used for Ladies finger,in that case you need to follow the option-2 for cooking.You cannot use the pressure cooker method for ladies finger,it will become sticky and soft.