Kathirikkai Podi Curry | Eggplant Poriyal With Spice Powder
Eggplant lovers, this Kathirikkai Podi Curry or Eggplant Poriyal is a recipe for you. We love eggplant in our house, and I often get requests to make eggplant curry.
My usual curry/poriyal is eggplants with red chili powder, but I love what my best friend Sudha, back in New York, makes. She is from Andhra, and she makes stuffed eggplant. The spice powder she uses is marvelous, and I am sure it has peanuts in it.
I never got a chance to ask for the recipe from her, since I always just asked her to make it for me. Next time I talk to her, I have to remember to ask her for the recipe.
Eggplant Poriyal is sort of similar to stuffed eggplants, except the stuffing is not inside, but as a coating. Also, this spice powder is very different, and I got the idea to make it from Meenakshi Ammal. It takes just 20 minutes to make the curry, and it is so delicious. I loved it with curd rice.
The other usual recipes that I make are -
Preparation time - 10 minutes
Cooking time - 20 minutes
Difficulty level - easy
Ingredients to make Kathirikkai Podi Curry - (serves 4)
- Eggplant - 15 small ones
- Oil - 2 tbsp
- Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
- Turmeric powder - ½ tsp
- Curry leaves - few
- Asafetida - ⅛th tsp
- Salt - to taste
To roast and grind -
- Kadalai paruppu / channa dal - 1 tbsp
- Dhania / whole coriander - 1 tbsp
- Red chilies - 5 or 6
- Desiccated coconut - 2 to 3 tbsp
- Oil - ½ tsp
Procedure to make Eggplant Poriyal -
- Wash and slice the eggplants into thin slices. Keep the sliced eggplants immersed in water until ready to cook.
- Roast the ingredients mentioned to a reddish brown color and then grind them into a smooth powder.
- In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add turmeric powder, asafoetida, and curry leaves. Fry for about 10 seconds and then add the sliced eggplants. Make sure that you drain the vegetables well before adding them, as excess water could make the curry mushy.
- Let it fry in an open pan (without covering the pan) for about 5 minutes. Now add salt and briefly cover the pan to cook the vegetables. Make sure that you cover it only until done and not mushy. If the eggplants are tender, you might not even need to cover the pan.
- Once the vegetable is ¾th cooked, add the ground spice powder and mix it gently. Cook further until it is roasted, and then take it off the flame.
- Serve Eggplant Poriyal with hot rice and rasam!
Other Curry Recipes
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Recipe
Kathirikkai Podi Curry | Eggplant Poriyal
Equipment
- bowl
- spatula
- pan
Ingredients
- 15 Eggplant small ones
- 2 tablespoon Oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric powder
- few Curry leaves
- ⅛th teaspoon Asafetida
- to taste Salt
To roast and grind -
- 1 tablespoon Kadalai paruppu / channa dal
- 1 tablespoon Dhania / whole coriander
- 55 Red chilies
- 2 tablespoon Desiccated coconut
- ½ teaspoon Oil
Instructions
- Wash and slice the eggplants into thin slices. Keep the sliced eggplants immersed in water until ready to cook.
- Roast the ingredients mentioned to a reddish brown color and then grind it into a smooth powder.
- In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add the turmeric powder, asafetida and curry leaves. Fry for about 10 seconds and then add the sliced eggplants. Make sure that you drain the vegetable well before adding as excess water could make the curry mushy.
- Let it fry in open pan (without covering the pan) for about 5 minutes. Now add salt and briefly cover the pan to cook the vegetable. Make sure that you could it only until done and not mushy. If the eggplants are tender, you might not even need to cover the pan.
- Once the vegetable is ¾th cooked, add the ground spice powder and mix it gently. Cook further until it is roasted and then take off the flame.
- Serve Eggplant Poriyal with hot rice and rasam!
