Bharli Vangi (Stuffed Eggplant)

Bharli vangi is a yummy eggplant maharashtrian dish. It is wonderful with dal-bati or a poli/chapati. Typically this dish is prepared in the southern part of Maharashtra. A variant of this dish is also cooked in other parts.

Ingredients:

1. Small Eggplants - 5 to 6
2. Onion paste - 1 cup
3. Ginger paste - 1 tsp
4. Garlic paste - 1tsp
5. Groundnut Powder - 4 tsp
6. Chilli powder - 1 tsp
7. Coriander Powder - 1 tsp
8. Garam Masala - 1/4 tsp
9. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
10. Finely chopped coriander - 1/2 cup
11. Salt - to taste
12. Oil

Procedure:

1. Mix all above ingredients except the eggplants in a bowl - 1 tsp oil too. Add little water if needed in order to form thick paste.
2. Remove the ends of eggplants, slit into quarters, apply a pinch of salt to the inner side, stuff with mixture and keep aside.
3. In a thick bottom pan heat oil, add cumin seeds and stuffed eggplants.
4. Fry covered for 2 minutes on medium heat
5. Turn carefully to the other side and cover for another 2 minutes so that they get evenly fried.
6. Add the remaining stuffing mix and little water.
7. Cook covered on low flame till the water evaporates and the stuffing turn golden near the bottom of the pan.
8. You may need to turn them while cooking depending on the size of the eggplants.
9. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve with roti or dal-bati.

Red Hot Garlic Chutney

Garlic chutney and fried-salted green chilies are preferred supplements to the crisp-hot vada pav. Both of them take almost no time to prepare. The best thing is you won't need separate preparation for it. It is prepared using the same vada batter and oil. Prepare this chutney is after you are done frying all the vadas.

• Red Hot Garlic Chutney

Ingredients:

1. Garlic cloves 2-3
2. Red chili powder - 1 tsp
3. Salt - to taste
4. Vada batter - 5 tsp

Procedure:

1. Make sure that the oil is hot.
2. Drop little batter in the hot oil using a fork so that it forms tiny beads.
3. Quickly remove the droplets from the oil once they turn crisp.
4. Repeat this procedure to prepare 1/2 cup of beads.
5. Coarsely grind garlic, salt, red chilly powder and the fried beads  together.

• Fried-salted green chilies
  

Ingredients:

1. Medium size green chilies - 7-8
2. Salt - 1/2 tsp

Procedure:

1. Slit the chilies lengthwise starting from the stem. Do not remove the stem.
2. Remove excess oil from vada frying pan. The chilies don't need much oil for frying. 
3. Fry the chilies in the hot oil for 30 seconds.
4. Remove the chilies onto a paper towel.
5. Sprinkle the salt over the chilies and they are ready to serve.

Hot Crispy Vada Pav

There is nothing like a hot Vada, soft Pav(bread) and a cup of tea on a rainy day. A Vada is a dollop of spicy seasoned potatoes fried in a gram flour batter. In India, I never make a Vada-Pav at home. I just head to the closest 'tapri'(shack).

Being in Boston on a rainy day brought back those memories. So I decided to make this delicious snack at home. This is my recipe for crispy yum Vadas. Try it out and let me know how you like it.

Ingredients:

1. Medium Sized Potatoes – 4
2. Cumin seeds – ½ tsp
3. Ginger paste – 1 tsp
4. Garlic Paste – 1 tsp
5. Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
6. Coriander Powder – 1 tsp
7. Salt – to taste
8. Sugar – 1 tsp
9. Lemon Juice – 1 tsp
10. Finely Chopped Coriander – ¼ cup
11. Curry Leaves (Optional) – 4 to 5
12. Oil – 2 tsp
13. Gram Flour - 1 cup
14. Salt – to taste
15. Turmeric Powder – ½ tsp
16. Oil

Procedure:

For the stuffing:

1. Boil, peel and mash the potatoes. Keep aside
2. In a thick pan, heat oil, cumin seeds, ginger and garlic paste, turmeric powder, curry leaves(optional).
3. Fry for a couple of minutes & turn off the flame.
4. Add the mashed potatoes, salt, sugar, coriander powder, lemon juice.
5. Mix well and Turn on medium heat.
6. Fry the mix for another 5 minutes on medium heat, and set aside for cooling.
7. After cooling, make small balls of the spicy potato mix.

For the Batter

1. Take the gram flour in a bowl. Add oil, salt and mix well.
2. Add water slowly to form a thick consistent batter with no lumps.
3. Keep aside for 5 minutes.

Frying Time:

1. Heat sufficient oil for frying in a thick bottom deep frying pan.
2. Test the temperature by dropping little batter in the pan. If the batter rises to the top rapidly, the oil has reached the desired temperature.
3. Now flatten a potato ball slightly, dip it into the batter and gently drop it into the oil.
4. Turn the Vada once it turns golden from one side. Then fry it on the other side.
5. Fry a maximum of 4 Vadas at a time to maintain the oil temperature.

If you like your Vadas crisp, fry them twice. Once to cook and then the second time to make the Vadas crisp. Serve hot with soft Pav(bread). A special garlic chutney and fried chilies go well with the Vada-Pav.