Adding on to the recipe box

Vaishali’s Baghare Baingan


I am not a big fan of baingan (eggplants) but when Vaishali of Holy Cow! posted her recipe for Baghare Baingan , I had to try it. It had sesame seeds, coconut milk and peanuts which I love. Eggplant is also something Tushar likes a lot and I don’t cook often enough for him. Since I also love Tushar a lot, I decided to make the baingan Vaishali--style and find out if I liked them as much as my better half does. Well, I wasn’t surprised when not only did Tushar and I like it but our friends visiting from Houston for the weekend also couldn’t have enough of it. I just made three modifications and one omission to Vaishali’s recipe.
Modification No. 1: I used 1 tbsp of coriander cumin powder instead of 1 tbsp each of coriander powder and cumin powder.
Modification No 2: I added a whole can (14 oz) of coconut milk instead of ¼ cup. Hey, I like coconut, what can I say.
Modification No 3: Instead of tamarind pulp, I added 2 tbsp of tomato puree.
Omission: I omitted poppy seeds (khus khus) because I ran out of it.

Thanks to you Vaishali this finger licking recipe is now an integral part of my recipe box.

Few Weddings and a Chutney (Till Kuttaa)

I have always enjoyed attending weddings especially the ones in my family. Every time one of my numerous cousins would get married our whole family would converge to participate and help in the wedding preparation. While the kids were busy running around and the bride-to-be shopping all over town, my mom and aunts would gather in the kitchen and cook food while catching up on family gossip. Through all those scrumptious meals the one constant for me was my mom’s sesame and peanut chutney or till kuttaa as it is called in Maharashtrian households. She would make a big jar of it and everyone had it by the spoonful with their meals. It is also a dining table staple in our house the rest of the year as well.


It is one of those things you get so used to you never pay much attention to it -- till you have to make it. When I decided to enter Think Spice – Sesame event, hosted by Padmaja and originally started by Sunitha , I immediately thought of my mom’s sesame chutney. Of course, my mom always eyeballed the ingredients so all I could get from her over the phone was “a handful of seasame and a bowl of peanut, some red chili and some grated coconut.” I experimented with different proportions of peanuts and sesame till I found the right match. Here’s my mom’s sesame peanut chutney.

Sesame Peanut Chutney

Ingredients:

1 cup peanuts, roasted and crushed

¼ cup sesame seeds

4 tbsp shredded dry coconut

1 clove of garlic (optional)

1 tsp red chili powder

1 tsp sugar

Salt to taste

Method:

Dry roast the sesame seeds on low heat till they start to pop. Separately dry roast the shredded coconut till it turns a light brown color.

Let the sesame seeds and coconut cool down. Grind all the ingredients in a mini food processor or blender to a coarse consistency.

Caution: Do not grind it too much or the oils from the sesame, peanuts and coconut will make the chutney lumpy.

The chutney will keep in an air tight jar for up to two weeks if you don’t finish it off first.

This chutney also goes off to Pavani of Cook's Hideout who is hosting JFI -- Peanuts this month, originally started by Mahanandi .