Kathirikai Rasavangi or Brinjal Rasavangi is a very popular sambar / kootu or pitlai made in South Indian household. I absolutely love eggplant and this is one of my favorite to make.
I love sambar recipes that is made with lot of vegetables. Every time I make sambar, I add tons of vegetable in sambar as my boys love eating them. Hence I make kootu more often than I make regular sambar.
This rasavangi has a lot of kathrikkai / brinjal and is made with freshly ground spices and tuvaram paruppu / toor dal. Amma always plans lunch based on what she is planning to make for dinner.
If she is planning to make dosai for dinner, then she would plan to make rasavangi for lunch. This rasavangi tastes amazing with dosai and it is one of my favorite.
What is rasavangi?
Rasavangi is an authentic recipe made predominantly in Tamil Brahmin family. I would call it a cousin of arachuvitta sambar but it closely resembles kootu than sambar. Rasavangi can be made with white pumpkin as well. I make it as white pumpkin kootu which is the same as a rasavangi.
Why make this recipe?
- If you are an eggplant lover, this is a must try recipe.
- It is very easy to make and tastes great not just with rice but also with idli and dosai.
- I make it as often as I can in summer with homegrown eggplants. The best part is, we can use any kind of eggplant for this recipe. If I have a couple of different kinds of eggplant, I mix them together and make this rasavangi.
- It is a vegan recipe and is a great choice if you follow a vegan lifestlye.
What kind of brinjal / eggplant to use for kathrikai rasavangi?
Amma would make kathirikai rasavangi mostly with the long purple brinjal which is called the Japanese eggplant in US. I grow these every summer and I make it with that.
But the best part is we can use any eggplant that is available. I make it with the big eggplant that we use to make Baingan Bharta and also the small eggplants that is used to make kathirikai curry / poriyal. I have also mixed different kinds of eggplants and used them together.
Ingredients and substitutes
- Eggplant / kathirikkai / Brinjal - I have used long eggplant in the recipe. See note above on what other eggplant can we use.
- Tuvaram paruppu / Toor dal - Cook the toor dal until soft and mushy and use in the rasavangi recipe.
- Tamarind - Use fresh tamarind or tamarind pulp.
- For garnish - curry leaves and cilantro
- Spices - Turmeric powder and salt. We will make fresh spice powder as well that is listed below.
- Fry together and grind into powder - Chana dal, Coriander seeds, Red chilies, coconut.
- To season - Oil , Mustard seeds, urad dal , curry leaves
Step by step process
Prep work
- Cook the tuvaram paruppu / toor dal in enough water until soft and mushy and keep aside. I cook toor dal in instant pot in pressure cook / manual mode for 15 minutes.
- Soak the tamarind in hot water for few minutes and extract the juice from the tamarind. Squeeze the extract by adding water for about 3 times and keep the water separately. If using tamarind paste, use about 1 teaspoon of paste and dissolve it in 2 cups of water.
- Fry all the ingredients listed above (chana dal, coriander seeds, red chilies and coconut) and grind into a coarse powder. Keep aside.
How to make rasavangi
- Cut the eggplants into 1 inch pieces. Heat oil and add the eggplant chunks and scald it for few minutes until the eggplants start changing color.
- Now add the extracted tamarind water to the eggplant. Make sure that the water covers the vegetable.
- Add salt and turmeric powder and let it boil until the vegetable is cooked well.
- Now add the ground powder and cooked Paruppu and mix well. Also add the asafetida and curry leaves and let the mixture come to a boil.
- Season the cooked rasavangi with mustard seeds, urad dal and curry leaves and serve hot. I made some okra curry to serve with kathirikai rasavangi.
Expert tips
- Make sure to have all the prep work done ahead for easy and smooth cooking process.
- After chopping the eggplant, keep it soaked in water until ready to cook. This prevents the eggplant from becoming brown.
- Grind the roasted spice powder in intervals, so it does not become oily from the coconut.
- Cook the toor dal until mushy either in a pressure cooker or instant pot.
- Cook the rasavangi in low flame after adding the spice powder and dal and keep stirring in frequent intervals.
Frequently asked questions
Kathirikai rasavangi tastes amazing with rice and ghee. I also love it with ven pongal, arisi upma and Neer dosai.
My mother would typically use the long eggplant (Japanese eggplant) to make rasavangi. But I have used all kinds of eggplants and have even mixed and matched different kinds.
Brinjal rasavangi tastes best when served fresh, right after cooking. If there are leftovers, we can keep it in the refrigerator for couple of days and serve after warming.
More eggplant / brinjal recipes
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Kathirikai Rasavangi | Brinjal Rasavangi
Equipment
- bowl
- Pressure Cooker
- spatula
Ingredients
- 2 Eggplant / Brinjal I used the long thin ones (about 3 cups chopped)
- ½ cup Thuvaram paruppu/red gram dhal cook until soft and mushy
- 1 teaspoon Tamarind or a small piece (as big as small lime)
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
- few Curry leaves
- ¼ teaspoon Asafetida
- to taste Salt
- 2 teaspoon Oil
- to garnish Cilantro
Fry together and grind into powder
- 1 ½ tablespoon Kadalai Paruppu / chana dal
- 1 tablespoon Coriander seeds / dhania
- 6 Red chilies
- ⅓ cup Coconut grated
For seasoning
- 1 teaspoon Oil
- 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
- 2 teaspoon Ullutham paruppu / Urad dal
- few curry leaves
Instructions
- Cook the thuvaram paruppu in enough water until soft and mushy and keep aside. I cook it in Instant pot and cook it on manual / pressure cook mode for 15 minutes.
- Soak the tamarind in hot water for few minutes and extract the juice from the tamarind. Squeeze the extract by adding water for about 3 times and keep the water separately. If using tamarind pulp, dissolve 1 teaspoon of pulp in about 2 cups of water.
- Fry all the ingredients listed (coriander seeds, chana dal, red chilies and coconut) and grind into a coarse powder. Keep aside.
- Cut the eggplants into 1 inch chunks. Heat oil and add the eggplant chunks and fry it for few minutes or until the eggplants change color to light brown.
- Now add the extracted tamarind water to the eggplant. Make sure that the water covers the vegetable. If not add a little more water to cover the brinjal.
- Add salt and turmeric powder and let it boil until the vegetable is cooked well.
- Now add the ground powder and cooked toor dal and mix well. Also add the asafetida and curry leaves and let the mixture come to a boil.
- Season the cooked rasavangi with mustard seeds and urad dal and serve hot with rice.
Notes
- Make sure to have all the prep work done ahead for easy and smooth cooking process.
- After chopping the eggplant, keep it soaked in water until ready to cook. This prevents the eggplant from becoming brown.
- Grind the roasted spice powder in intervals, so it does not become oily from the coconut.
- Cook the toor dal until mushy either in a pressure cooker or instant pot.
- Cook the rasavangi in low flame after adding the spice powder and dal and keep stirring in frequent intervals.
Radha says
Rasavangi is often made in our homes. My mom makes it very similar too and your post is taking to me to those days!Great recipe share!
Srivalli Jetti says
I love rasavangi because of the fresh masala we add...we have brinjal fans at home too and I often make this...I love the fact that your mom used to plan lunch based on dinner, that's a great way to plan meals.
Suganya says
Amazing and very well illustrated. Thanks for sharing
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thank you!
Rajani S says
I also like Samaithu paar, but just wish they would release a copy with a better presentation of ingredients and method. Else, its a huge repository of traditional recipes!
The rasavangi looks nice and it pairs well with the potato fry 🙂
Nalini's Kitchen says
Such a flavorful curry,very tempting.I am great fan of Meenakshi Ammal Cook books...
Pavani says
I recently tried this dish and loved it. Yours looks delicious.
sushma says
Such a quick and tasty dish.
Priya says
I can die for this stew, my all time favourite, very tempting.
Shylaashree says
it is tempting sandhya
Adhiraacreations
Healthy recipes
divya says
look absolutely tempting !! Gorgeous
Harini-Jaya Rupanagudi says
A very tempting platter. My mom makes rasavangi and is probably one of her favs. Owing to allergies, I avoid eggplant and so this is out of my realm!
Savitha Ganesan says
New dish to me.I bet it tasted awsome with potatoes.
Srivalli says
Looks very inviting...I love rasavangi..
Aruna Manikandan says
flavorful and delicious gravy,love it with hot idli's
Saraswathi Tharagaram says
Love this authentic gravy..Super combo with potato fry..Yum.
Pinksocks says
The paste for the brinjals looks very inviting. I dont remember eating it ever this way 🙂 Good one.
Gayathri Kumar says
I need to try this once. Your recipe looks good and thanks for sharing...
Chef Mireille says
I am not an eggplant fan so I would use a different vegetable but it does look tasty
Foodiliciousnan says
Books that we refer to when we start cooking can be so previous, right? I love to prepare rasavangi but am not a Brinjal person so I take put all the pieces and eat 🙂
Foodiliciousnan says
I love to prepare rasavangi but I don't like brinjal so I pick out the pieces while eating 🙂 I'm sure yours was delightful
Julie says
looks mouthwatering n delicious!!