Beguner Kalia - Brinjal Masala Curry

If you are following my blog you may know that I am little bit biased towards Begun (Brinjal) and lau (bottlegourd). Here is one more Brinjal stuff from my kitchen. When I was young I used to visit my grandma’s place quite often and was fascinated by her cooking skills. She is one of my inspirations behind my blog. She also loved brinjal and used to cook this Begun Kalia often. This is a traditional Bengali dish which is yummy and smells good. This is a vegetarian dish and you can make it more strictly vegetarian ( Jain food) by removing the onion from the recipe.

Preparation Time: - 10 min

Cooking Time: - 50 min

Servings: - 4 persons

Ingredients:-

1. 1 large Brinjal about 400 gm.
2. 2 medium sized Potato – about 200 gm.
3. 1 medium sized onion
4. 1~2 green chilly or red chilly if you like it more spicy
5. 1 tbsp Ghee
6. Yogurt or sour curd – 100 gm
7. Salt and Sugar to taste
8. 1 ½ tbsp ginger paste
9. 1 tsp cumin powder or dry roast cumin seeds with dry red chili and grind to a powder.
10. 1 tsp whole Jeera /cumin seeds
11. 1 tsp turmeric Powder
12. 2 tsp Garam Masala
13. 2 Bay leaves
14. 7~8 tbsp Mustard oil. Since this is a traditional Bengali dish it is good to cook in Mustard oil but you can use other vegetable oil also.
15. ¼ cup chopped coriander leaves

  Preparation:-

1. Cut the brinjal and potatoes lengthwise and keep aside.
2. Take a bowl and whip curd and dry roasted cumin powder.
   
3. Mix turmeric powder and salt with the brinjal pieces and marinate for few minutes.
4. Heat oil in a non-stick kadai / pan and fry the potatoes with salt in 2 tbsp oil. Drain the oil with tissue paper and keep aside.
   
5. In the same pan add 3 tbsp oil and fry the brinjal. Drain the oil and keep aside.
   
6. Add ½ tsp ghee+3 tbsp oil in the same kadai /pan. Add the Bay leaves and whole jeera. Sauté for some time till the jeera crackles
7. Now add the onion cook for a little. A nice aroma of the combination should sooth your senses. Stir till the onion turns golden brown.
   
8. Pour the ginger paste and green chilly. Stir for a minute or so.
9. Put the whipped curd mixture and potatoes in it. Stir to ensure that the spices do not stick to the bottom. Cook around 4~5 minutes in medium heat or till the oil comes to the surface.
   
10. Add little water, salt and sugar. Cover the pan and cook for around 5 minutes.
11. Add fried brinjal pieces and continue cooking for around 2 minutes.
    
12. When the brinjal and potatoes are properly done add ½ tsp ghee, garam Masala and coriander leaves. Stir for few seconds and switch off the burner.
    

This is a Bengali side dish - so it goes well with hot rice.

Please note that the time described here is approximate as it all depends upon the Brinjal and potatoes. When I was cooking for the photos it took more time as my brinjal and potatoes were taking too much time to cook. Also please ensure that at the end the gravy should be thick for good taste. 

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.