Ingredients:

Preparations:

Wash and clean brinjals. Take water in a bowl, add salt and mix well. Cut brinjals into small cubes and add them to the salt water. Wash them well in the salt solution and take them into a microwave safe bowl. Add one-third of the salt taken and mix well. Place this bowl in a microwave oven and cover it partially. Cook the brinjals on high power for 5 minutes. Stir once and again microwave on 30% power for 7 minutes. Allow 3 minutes standing time before removing the bowl from the oven.

Wash and clean the tomatoes. Chop the tomatoes finely. Here I have used a V-slicer to chop the tomatoes. Take the chopped tomatoes into a microwave safe bowl and place it in the oven. Cover the bowl partially and cook on high power for 3 minutes. Stir once and again cook on high power for 2 minutes. Keep this bowl aside.

Wash, clean and cut the green chilies into small pieces.

De-stem the red chilies and break them into small pieces.

Wash, clean and chop the coriander leaves.

Method:

Heat a pan and add oil to it. When the oil is hot add the fenugreek seeds and black gram. Fry till the seeds start changing color. Then add the mustard seeds and fry till they crackle. Then add the cut green chilies and fry well. Add the red chili pieces and asafoetida. Fry well and enjoy the aroma of the seasoning. Take the fried seasoning into a plate and add the tamarind. To the remaining oil add the cooked brinjal pieces. Add turmeric powder and half of the salt left to the brinjal pieces and mix well. Add the remaining salt to the cooked tomato pieces and keep it aside. Fry the brinjals till dry. Take them into a plate and add the cooked tomatoes. Fry for few minutes till some water is reduced. Take these cooked tomatoes into a plate and let it cool.

For Grinding:

If using a Mixie for grinding:

Take a mixie jar and add the fried seasonings to it. Grind them to a paste by adding some cooked tomatoes. Do not grind it to a fine paste. It should be somewhat coarse. Take this ground mixture into a bowl and add the brinjal pieces. Whip them to get a coarse paste. Remove this paste and grind the tomatoes coarsely. Mix all these pastes along with some chopped coriander leaves. Mix well and serve garnished with the remaining coriander leaves.

If using a Mortar and Pestle:

Take the seasoning ingredients in a mortar and crush them with a pestle. The paste will be coarse. Remove the paste and add brinjal pieces little by little and crush. Similarly crush the tomatoes. Add some chopped coriander leaves to the crushed pastes and mix well with fingers. Transfer the Pachhadi to a serving bowl and garnish with the remaining coriander leaves.

Points to Notice:

Add the cut brinjals to the salt solution and wash them to remove the bitterness.

Finely chop the tomatoes so that while grinding if we just whip them that will be sufficient to get the right texture. It will be easy also while grinding in a mortar and pestle.

Fry the green chilies in the oil till they change color so that they won’t be hot.

I have used an Iron pan for preparing this chutney. Brinjal pieces when added to the iron pan, gets changed to a dark color. Nothing to worry—it is the reaction of iron which is anyhow good for health. After that when you add the tomato pieces the pan changes its color to white—once again the iron reaction. So do not worry about the color of the chutney. Just enjoy the taste and get added benefits of iron.

While cooking and also while grinding do not mix brinjals with tomatoes. Cook them separately and also grind them separately. Otherwise the taste differs.

While grinding in a mortar and pestle take care so that the seeds of the chilies do not land into your eyes.

The texture and taste of the dish differs when prepared in a mixer grinder and a mortar and pestle. Both taste good.

Serve this Pachhadi with plain rice and hot ghee.