I have known of Asha from Food Fashion Party for a long time. Just as I have of other blogs in these 3 years of blogging. But it is only recently that I have learned how important it is to let the bloggers or the posts I like, know how much I like them. Because we all want to be appreciated. Just as I do.
I love Asha’s Indian cooking and also her ability to make the long hours she undoubtedly spent in the kitchen look so easy. Its a knack my mom had, to whip things up at a moments notice. I think she possesses that ability. And her pictures and her dishes just look incredible. SO if you hadn’t figured it out already I am a big fan!
She has come up with a fantastic looking dish that would, in my opinion look great on any Christmas table.
Thank you Asha! <3
If you’ve followed Rakhee and her blog for a while you know her blog has a magical aura to it.
Her moody pictures just speak to you and her approach to food is simple with a twist and is very elegant. Her blog has some fantastic recipes and one of my favorite is her Chickpea Salad.
When Rakhee asked me to do a Guest post for her, I was excited and definitely wanted to make something that she likes. When I asked her what she would prefer, ‘Eggplant’ is what she said. Now, I don’t make eggplant a lot. That being said, I do make a couple and love them both.
I am sharing the fancier one of the two. It is recipe inspired by eggplant rolls just fusionized. This curry does take a few steps, but is not fussy at all. As one of my friends said, ‘it is a dish even a non-eggplant lover would enjoy’.
Thinly cut eggplant, baked and rolled with some potato mixture and add to this a wonderful light creamy smooth curry. It is a dish you can entertain with for sure.
All the components of the dish work very well and they do have some complex flavors but don’t fight each other. Make a lot of it, this is going to be a winner!
- 3 eggplants
- For the Stuffing
- 3 potatoes cooked and mashed
- ½ cup peas cooked
- 2 tbsp chickpea flour
- 2 tbsp white sesame seeds
- 3 tbsp roasted peanuts
- ½ tsp garam masala powder
- ½ tsp chaat masala
- 1 tsp red chilli powder
- ½ tsp salt
- For the Tomato Almond Curry
- 1 small red onion
- 3 tomatoes
- ⅓ cup almonds
- 4-5 whole dried red chillies
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- ⅓ tsp garam masala
- 1 tbsp kashmiri red chili powder(more or less according to your taste)
- salt to taste
- Grated paneer to top it off
- For the curry, in a saucepan add 2-3 cups of water and add the onion, tomato, red chillies, almonds, cumin and salt. Bring it to a boil and simmer uncovered for 15-20 minutes. Turn off the heat and let cool completely before grinding it to a fine paste along with the water that it boiled in. You can use some water to grind it.
- Keep a non stick pan and add the oil. let get hot and add the ginger garlic paste and saute it on low heat for a minute and then pour the ground paste. Add the kashmiri red chilli pwder and salt and keep stirring. Let it boil. If the curry is too thick, add 1 cup of water. Leave in on medium heat to cook and reduce.
- Meanwhile, slice your eggplant lengthwise and put it on a sheet pan. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper and bake it at 350°F/175°C for 10-15 minutes. Take it out and let cool.
- For the stuffing, keep a flat bottomed pan on medium heat and add the chickpea flour and slowly roast it until the raw flavor has gone. It will take about 5-10 minutes. You can add a tsp of oil if you like. Then add the sesame seeds, peanuts, garam masala powder, red chili powder, salt and mix well and coarsely grind it and set aside.
- In a pan, add the potato, chickpea mixture, peas and check for salt and mix well to incorporate everything.
- To assemble everything, add a tablespoon of the filling in the eggplant slices and roll tightly and keep aside. Roll them all and keep aside.
- At this point you can use a baking dish or you can make it in the same pan where the curry was cooking, just arrange the rolls, cover and cook simmer for 10 minutes.
- I used a baking dish, poured the curry in it, and arranged the rolled eggplant. Sprinkle or grate some paneer, drizzle little oil so it doesn't dry out and bake at 400°F/205°C for 15 minutes in the middle of the oven.
- Serve hot with rotis or naan.
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Such a wonderful use of the eggplant and giving the rolls an Indian twist is so creative! I love eggplant and this is a recipe that would be great for entertaining too 🙂
This is a great recipe isn’t it Bina? Asha can always be relied on to come up with fantastic dishes! 🙂
What fun, the two of you getting together for this! I love Asha’s blog too, Rakhee so seeing her here was a delight! And eggplant! Hooray! I adore it, and am learning new ways to cook with it. I love it’s smoky, rich flavor when roasted or in curries, so I know I’ll love this recipe! There’s a few spices I’m not familiar with, so I’ll be on the lookout for them: kashmiri red chili powder and chaat masala. Thank you for this my dear! Delicious! xo
We had lots of fun indeed doing this guest post thing Traci. It is wonderful to make friends with people on the other side of the world. I love eggplant too since I was a kid and this version which i have never had looks so fantastic. You need to go to an Indian grocer! Its like a candy store of spices. 🙂
Adore Asha and adore her cooking. This recipe looks mouthwatering. I totally want to make it. Your blog looks so amazing too – what lovely photographs and inspiring recipes 🙂
xx Yasmin
http://banglesandbungalows.com
Asha is fantastic Yasmin, totally agree! This recipe is beyond mouth watering. Thank you for visiting my space. <3
hello yasmin hello ayesha and hello rakhee , i like this recipe but one of you have to cook it for me :p just kidding nice sharing !! 🙂