begun basanti / eggplants in mustard sauce bengali style

After consistently blogging for few months I was forced to take another blogging break for two weeks, which was both un foreseen and unavoidable at the same time. I never expected that my OS will be brought down by a virus after securing the network with so many anti-viruses and multiple layers of firewalls, but it seems to be a newly launched virus which so cunningly able to fool Norton and even Kaspersky and sneaks through the Symantec. It corrupt my hard drives but thanks to the backup, I did not lose much vital data. For two weeks we frantically try to execute recovery and restore ops, but could not succeed,and finally gave up. We had another decade old hard drive lying idle in my box, perhaps waiting for such incidents, and an equally old version of Linux. And thanks to these two, which made possible the blogging again, and Linux is known for its sturdiness and well insulated for any virus attack, but for extra caution it is always good to keep the root directories separate while accessing the internet. WAP -ing made possible to approve the reader’s comments but it has its own restrictions, it does not allow to post the drafts.

Lastly thanks to all my blogger friends and readers who keep visiting my space, even though I was restricted to do any blog hopping.

Coming to the recipe of begun basanti or pan-fried eggplants in rich and creamy mustard-yogurt based sauce is yet another delicacy from Bengal, some calls it begun sorshe /eggplants in mustard sauce when you do not use the yogurt and begun basanti when you use the yogurt along with mustard. Posto bata / poppy-seed paste and sorshe bata / mustard paste are the two most favoured condiments among Bongs who loved and adored these two and which lends a unique flavour and taste to so many dishes which are so much Bengali in nature. These two are highly culture specific and we loved sorshe bata / mustard paste in anything, and its inherent quality magically transforms the simple greens to a savory dishes.

begun basanti / eggplants in mustard sauce bengali style

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Spicy fried eggplants in creamy mustard sauce.

Author: Sukanya Ghosh

Cuisine: Indian

Serves: 2

Ingredients

• Eggplants / brinjals : 1 big
• Yellow mustard seed paste : 3-4 tbsp
• Nigella seeds / kalonji : 1 tsp
• Curd (beaten): ¼ cup
• Green chillies : 3-4 medium
• Ginger paste : 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder : ¼ tsp
• Cumin powder : 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder : 1 tsp
• Warm water : ½ cup
• Salt and sugar to taste
• Mustard oil : for shallow frying and cooking
• Chopped cilantro leaves for garnishing

Instructions

1. Wash and cut the eggplants into long strips, as shown in the pics. Rub salt and turmeric on the eggplants and leave for 15 minutes.
2. Heat some mustard oil in a pan and shallow fry the eggplants till it gets a nice brown hues. Take out from the oil and drain it and keep it on a tissue paper to remove excess oil from the fried eggplants
3. In a mixing bowl, add the mustard paste, salt, turmeric powder, beaten curd and ginger paste, blend it well.
4. In a separate pan, heat a tablespoon of mustard oil and temper it with nigella seeds.
5. Add the above mentioned paste of mustard seeds, curd and ginger paste, fry on low heat for sometime and add the slotted green chillies.
6. Let it fry for few more minutes till the oil separates out. Add the cumin and red chilli powder and mix well. Add salt and sugar to taste.
7. Add the warm water to get a saucy consistence, dip the fried eggplants in it, coat it well with mustard-yogurt sauce, cover and sim for 5 minute.
8. Garnish with freshly chopped cilantro and serve the beautiful golden-yellow colored begun basanti / eggplants in mustard-yogurt sauce with paratha or pulao.

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