Summer Special: Doi Begun (Brinjal with Yoghurt)

Hello friends! Here I am blogging after ages because I just cooked a fab dish of brinjal with yoghurt. It’s perfect for this hellishly sweltering Delhi weather — cool, tangy and dead simple to do. If you are loath to spend extra time in the kitchen in this heat, this is the dish for you.

So here it is — Doi Begun, as we say in Bangla. 

Ingredients

-Two brinjals sliced in half-inch thick roundels

-200g curd

-2/3 dried red chillies

-1 green chilli finely chopped

-2 tsp mustard

-1/2 tsp methi or fenugreek

-3 tsp roasted and ground jeera powder

-Salt and caster sugar to taste

-Oil to fry

Method

Lightly salt the sliced brinjals. Heat the oil in a large kadhai and fry the brinjal in batches of two until they turn brownish and are cooked through. Keep them aside on a plate lined with kitchen paper so the extra oil sticking to them is absorbed.

Put the curd in a bowl. Add a few of spoons of water, the chopped green chillies, salt and caster sugar, and beat it with a fork till it has a thickish pouring consistency. Taste it to see if you want it more sweet or salty.

Put some fresh oil in the kadhai — about a tablespoon. When the oil is hot, drop the dried red chillies. When they turn dark, add the mustard seeds and give it a stir or two. As the mustard starts to sputter, reduce the heat and add the methi. Stir for a few seconds till the methi plumps up and turn golden brown. (The methi must not be overdone, otherwise your dish will be bitter.) The moment the methi is done, pour the contents of the kadhai into the curd. Mix well.

Now arrange the fried brinjals on a serving platter and pour the spiced dahi on it. Sprinkle some roasted and ground jeera powder, and, voila, your doi-begun is ready!

I like to have my doi-begun with both rotis and steamed rice. It tastes fantastic with parathas too. Find your own favourite combo and do let me know how the dish turned out.