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Baigan (Egg plant/ Brinjal) Vadi (Dried dumplings, dried nuggets)

Servings: 4-5
Preparation time: 5-6 minutes.
Frying vadi time: 2-3 minutes.
Frying vegetable time: 7-8 minutes.
Cooking time: 6-7 minutes.
Total time: 24 minutes.

This recipe is very popular in most Indian houses till date from ages; in urban area people buy it from grocery store, but I am fortunate that it is given by my mom when I was moving to Japan. She prepares it at home and gives to their relatives too as a souvenir. She made many variety of vadi (Dried dumplings, dried nuggets) from lentil like Chana (Bengal gram), Mung (Green gram), Urad (Black gram), Masoor (Red lentil) and Peas etc… In this recipe I used split peas vadi…

The Vadi is generally made during summer season; so that in that season there is abundance of heat from the Sun. Dried lentil paste dumpling (nuggets), which is sun-dried, can be stored for a year in air-tight container.

It was used in olden days during the scarcity of quality green vegetables in the market during off season. Now throughout the year green vegetables are available, still we can enjoy with aged traditional Indian recipe …

Ingredients:

Baigan (egg plant): 400 gm
Vadi: 100 gm.
Garlic paste: 1 teaspoon
Tomato: 1 no. (Medium size)
Kasuri Methi: 1 tablespoon (You can use fresh fenugreek leaf).
Mustard oil: 5-6 tablespoon
Mustard seed: ½ teaspoon
Chilli powder: 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder: 1 teaspoon
Coriander powder: 1 teaspoon
Salt: 1 teaspoon
Garam masala: ½ teaspoon(optional)

Preparation:

Cut egg plant into small pieces (~ 1”pieces), keep this in a bowl filled with water otherwise it will turn dark brown due to high iron content. Keep aside.
Chop tomato into small pieces, keep aside.

Method:

Take fry pan, heat 2 tablespoon of oil, let oil start to smoke; Add vadi, Stir fry for couple of minutes (don’t over fry it otherwise it will not get cooked properly). Take out, keep aside.
Put remaining oil into the fry pan; add mustard seed sputter it for few seconds add egg plant stir fry on medium flame for about couple of minutes, add chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garlic paste and salt stir it, reduce to low flame, cover the lid (for 2-3 minutes). Stir occasionally, so that it should not burn.
Add tomato and Kasuri Methi stir it; cover the lid and cook till vegetables are half done, add 2 cups of hot water. Let it boil; add fried Vadi, stir it reduce to low flame, cover the lid till it just done (for 3-4 minutes). Put off the flame. The Vadi gets double in size, add Garam masala and stir carefully otherwise Vadi gets messy in appearance.
Transfer the Sabji into serving bowl, ‘Baigan (Egg plant/ Brinjal) Vadi (Dried dumplings, dried nuggets)’ is ready to be served with Chapatti (Indian bread), Poori or Rice.