My version of Mirch and Baigan Salan (Pepper and Eggplant Curry from Hyderabad with a Twist)

Salan is a popular curry with sesame seed and peanut base with hint of tamarind and Jaggary. This is original dish from Hyderabad, India. The curry can be made with Eggplant or variety of Chili peppers. You can use Hungarian peppers. You may want to remove the veins and seeds from the peppers to reduce heat, or you may use variety of peppers that are not very spicy.  I had posted the recipe earlier of just Mirch ka Salan, this time I made this with Eggplants and Peppers. You can only make it with eggplants or just peppers or even Okras.  It is the blend of these spices that gives its name and flavor.  

Salan recipe usually  calls for coconut as well, but neither I or my family members are crazy about coconut so I omitted that, and added Hemp instead for extra body in the gravy. However if you like coconut, you can add unsweetened coconut dried flakes.

The gravy is full of flavor and nuttiness. It tastes very good with Naan and Basmati rice. You can adjust the color by adding less or more Turmeric powder, as you can see mine looks little toward less yellow side as I did not put too much turmeric.  You don't want to add too too much turmeric as it can give bitter taste to the gravy.

Ingredients:

• 8 Hungarian peppers (slitted and you can take the vein and seeds out if you don't want it very spicy, but I left the vein and seeds in.)
• 8 Baby eggplants
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted peanuts
• 1/3 cup sesame seeds 
• 1/2 cup roasted unsalted cashews
• 1/4 cup poppy seeds ( I was out of poppy seed so omitted)
• 1/4 cup whole coriander seeds
• 3-4 pods of dried red chili (can adjust based of desired heat)
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon black peppercorns
• 1-2 two twigs of curry leaves
• 4-5 cloves on garlic peeled
• 2 medium size yellow onions peeled and sliced
• 1 green pepper sliced (capsicum) (optional)

• 2 table spoon of Tamarind concentrate
• 1 teaspoon of coarsely ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of Kashmiri Cayenne pepper powder (optional)
• 2 tablespoon of cumin seeds (divided in two parts)
• 1/4 cup of cooking vegetable oil 
• 1/4 cup of extra cooking oil for tempering
• 1/4 teaspoon of asafetida
• 3 cups of water
• Salt to taste

Method:

• Wash and dry the Hungarian peppers and eggplants.
• Cut a slit in each Hungarian pepper keeping the stem intact.
• Cut two slits on eggplant keeping the stem intact.
• For both don't cut the slit all the way.
• Cook the eggplant in Microwave with water for about 10-15 min so the are soft but not mushy.
• Take 1/3 cup of oil in a frying pan and shallow fry the peppers as shown in picture so they are brown and soft.
• Add curry leaves and set sauté some more and take it out in a another tray and  set aside.
• In the same pan add some more oil if needed and add 1/2 of cumin seeds and sauté garlic, onions and green pepper until golden brown (green pepper is optional).
• take it out  in a separate tray and set aside.
• In the same pan now sauté the partially cooked eggplant until fully cooked and aside. 

• In another shallow pan roast the coriander seeds, 1 teaspoon cumin seeds,  dried chili pods and black peppercorn on low heat until the spices emit aroma.
• Let them cool and grind them in food processor and add sesame seeds, peanuts, cashew and hemp (and poppy seeds if you have them).
• Grind it in the food processor until paste.
• Add sautéed onions, garlic and green pepper, grind it to paste again.
• Mix tamarind concentrate and water in a cup and mix well. 
• Heat the frying pan on medium heat,  that you sautéed the peppers, eggplants and onions and garlic,   add rest of oil when the oil is hot add cumin seeds, when these seeds crackle, add asafetida, then add sauteed eggplant. 
• Then add the peanuts, cashews, sesame seeds, and spice paste to the Hungarian pepper and eggplant and tamarind concentrate mixed  in water.

Add the rest of the dry spice and salt.

Rinse the food processor with remaining paste with water and add that water to peppers and eggplants Salan.

Simmer on low heat to desired consistency.

Garnish with cilantro.

Serve hot with Naan and rice. 

Enjoy !!

The above picture is of when I had just made Hungarian peppers Salan without eggplants.

Photographs and Recipe by Surekha.

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My Jackfruit (Kathal) Kofta Curry Recipe

Kofta is a family of meatball  dishes found in the Indian subcontinent, South Caucasian, Middle Eastern, Balkan, and Central Asian cuisines. Koftas in India are usually served cooked in a spicy curry and are eaten with boiled rice or a variety of Indian breads. In India, vegetarian varieties may use potato, calabash, paneer, or banana. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of ground meat - usually beef, chicken, lamb or mutton, pork, or a mixture - mixed with spices or onions.  In Greece and Cyprus, vegetarian versions are known as hortokeftedes, and often eaten during fasting periods such as Lent. 

The Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), also known as jack tree, is a species of tree in the fig, mulberry, and breadfruit family  Its origin is in the region between the Western Ghats  of southern India  and the rain forests of  of Malaysia.  Although when we visited Brazil last year we saw many trees on the train ride to statue of Christ.The jack tree is well-suited to tropical lowlands  and is widely cultivated throughout tropical region of the world. It bears the largest fruit of all trees, reaching as much as 55 kg (120 pounds) in weight, 90 cm (35 inches) in length, and 50 cm (20 inches) in diameter.  A mature jack tree produces some 200 fruits per year, with older trees bearing up to 500 fruits in a year. The jack fruit is a multiple fruit composed of hundreds to thousands of individual flowers, and the fleshy petals of the unripe fruit are eaten ^] The ripe fruit is sweet (depending on variety) and is more often used for desserts. Canned Jack fruit has a mild taste and meat-like texture that lends itself to being called a "vegetable meat"^.  When I was growing up in Agra we used to make

Jack fruit curry quite often. It is made out of unripened fresh fruit, which is not easy to cut as it is very sticky and you have to put lot of oil on your hand so the sticky substance does not stick to your hand.  When I first came here I could not find fresh jack fruit but in Asian and Indian grocery store I found the canned young jack fruit in brine, which is pretty good . I just wash it thoroughly under water to get rid of brine and all he preservatives.  For curry I usually grill the pieces on griddle and for the Kofta I just used the drained and washed pieces of Jack fruit. 

Ingredients  For Koftas:

• Pieces of  of Jack fruits from 2 cans** If you use fresh jack fruit for this make sure you take the seeds out and pressure cook the pieces to make them soft for the Koftas.
• 2 medium potatoes boiled and peeled .
• 8 ozs of Paneer
• 1" piece of ginger
• 1 small bunch of cilantro
• 1-2 Serrano chili pepper
• 3/4  cup of gram flour
  
  

• 1/2  teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of roasted cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon of Garam masala
• 3/4 cup of Panko crumbs
• Oil for frying

Ingredients For  Curry:

3 medium yellow onions

5  cloves of garlic

1" piece of ginger peeled

1/4 cup of oil

1 tablespoon of cumin seeds

2 black cardamom

One 2" stick of cinnamon

2 bay leaves

2 pods of dried red chili pods

1/4  teaspoon of asafoetida

Ground Spices:

• 1 teaspoon of turmeric
• 1 tablespoon of coriander powder
• 1 tablespoon of cumin powder
• 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder
• 1 teaspoon of garam masala
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
  

• 1/2 cup of roasted unsalted cashews
• 1 can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 same can of water + 1 cup of water
  
• 1/2 cup of heavy cream or sour cream (I used sour cream this time)

Preparation for Kofta:

• Boil  and peel potatoes and keep aside.
• Wash and drain the pieces of Jack fruits from can set aside.
• If you have big slab of paneer, cut in to half as you will only need 8 oz of paneer for this.
• Open the jar of crush tomatoes and set aside.
• Start with the dry food processor grind the roasted unsalted cashes to fine powder set aside.
• In same food processor jar coarsely grind the jack fruit pieces.

• Transfer the ground  jack fruit in a bowl.
• In same food processor jar, grind mash potatoes and paneer together and transfer in the bowl of ground jack fruit.
• Then in the food processor coarsely grind the Serrano peppers and 1" peeled  ginger and then add cilantro and chop coarsely.
• Add these to the bowl with  jack fruit, paneer and potatoes.

• Mix all the ingredients and add gram flour, baking soda, salt, garam masala and cumin powder.
• Mix to a dough consistency.
• Set aside.
  

  
  
  
  

 

How to make Curry:

• In food processor jar grind onions, ginger and garlic.
• Heat 1/4 cup of oil in a frying pan.
• When oil is hot, add cumin seeds, when these crackle, add bay leaves, cinnamon stick, cardamom and then add asafoetida.
• Add onion, garlic ginger paste and turn the heat down to medium and saute for 6-7  min, until golden brown.

• You can add roasted cashew powder.
• Mix and then add crushed tomatoes and same can of water.
• Bring it to boil and add cream or sour cream.
• Mix well.
• Add one cup of water and then all the dry ground spices mentioned above.
• Simmer at low heat while you make the kofta balls.

How to make Kofta balls:

• Add panko crumbs in a flat plate.
• Mix the dough prepared ahead.
• Make small golf size ball and roll them in to oval shape.
• Roll each ball on the panko crumbs generously coating each ball.
• Set them all in tray, while you heat the oil for  deep frying in fryer.
• Deep fry the kofta ball and set them on paper towel to drain excess oil.

• When ready to serve you can drop the Kofta balls in the simmering curry.
• Make sure you simmer the curry with the Kofta balls enough for required servings as they will become soft and mushy.
• This recipe yields 34 Koftas. (it is an effort and work to make these, so you can make more of these and  freeze the rest of balls and curry separately. Can thaw and simmer with Kofta ball when ready to serve again.
• You can make additional curry when ready to serve frozen kofta.
  

• Garnish the Kofta Curry with cilantro and drizzle of cream and serve hot with Naan, or chapati or rice.

Information on  Kofta source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofta

Jack fruit information source and Jack fruit picture courtesy of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackfruit

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License

Recipe and All other photographs by Surekha.

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