My dearest Komal, Anjli and Amar,

I have been prompted by Komal to upload this particular recipe. All because she erroneously bought some Turkish peppers and was not sure how to cook them! So here is one method. The masala mix for the stuffed vegetables is quite different from the stuffing for the parathas. The long Turkish peppers are usually not so hot and have a unique and tasty flavour.

The lockdown is giving everyone more time to experiment with their cooking. All the restaurants are closed and I guess you are getting tired of the same old food deliveries! Like I always say, cook more and you will find spending time in the kitchen will not seem such a chore. Perhaps you will become more critical of what you eat in the restaurants, and end up cooking at home. Hurray.

Stuffed Vegetable Curry

Course: Main Dish

Cuisine: Gujarati

Keyword: stuffed

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 pople

Spicy way of eating potatoes and aubergines.

Print Recipe

Equipment

• Large non-stick pan or a Wok

Ingredients

Vegetables

• 8-10 mini aubergines
• 10-12 mini new potatoes of equal size
• 6-8 small sized onions/shallots
• Optional other vegetables Long Turkish green chilies, slim sweet potato sliced into 5 cm cylinders

Filling Ingredients

• 5 tbsp roasted peanuts 50g
• Paste of 3 green chillies and 2cm ginger
• 3 spring onions optional
• 4 tbsp channa flour chick pea flour
• 4 tbsp cumin/coriander powder dhana jeeru
• 1 tsp ajwain seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp sesame seeds
• ½ tsp sugar
• 2 tsp Salt To taste
• 3 tbsp vegetable oil

Vaghaar

• 3 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• Few grains fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp ajwain seeds
• pinch asafoetida powder
• 1 tsp turmeric powder

Sauce Ingredients

• 2 ripe tomatoes finely diced

Garnish

• Finely chopped fresh coriander
• 1 tsp desiccated grated coconut

Instructions

• Clean the aubergines by removing most of the stalk. Leave a small part of stalk to enable you to hold the aubergine. Make a cross cut on the fleshy side and leave them submerged in a pan of water.
  
• Keeping the skin of new potatoes make a slit on the long side of each potato. Soak the slit potatoes in a bowl of warm salted water. This will help in the stuffing process.
  
• Skin all the onions and slit similar to the potatoes.
• Skin the sweet potatoes(if using) and again slit them on the longer side.
• Finely grind the peanuts and transfer to a big bowl.
• Add ginger, chilies, garlic and finely chopped spring onions.
• Add the rest of the stuffing ingredients and mix to form a paste. To get the right consistency either add a little more oil or more ground peanuts and dhana/jeeru. Adjust seasoning as required.
• Remove the potatoes and aubergine from the water and squeeze out all the water. Stuff all the vegetables with the stuffing, keeping them all separate.
• Heat the oil in a large preferably non-stick pan, and add mustard, cumin, fenugreek seeds and turmeric.
• When the seeds start to splutter add the asafoetida powder and place the aubergines in the pan. Toss so that the aubergines are coated with the oil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 5 minutes.
• Add the potatoes and the rest of the vegetables. Again cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.
• Toss the pan so that all the vegetables get a coat of oil. You can also use a spatula for this, but be very gentle. Try not to dislodge the stuffing from the vegetables. Cover again and cook on a low heat. If vegetables start sticking to the bottom of the pan add a quarter cup water. Do not add too much water.
• Carefully turn the vegetables over occasionally so they can cook evenly, making sure that the ingredients do not become mushy and the vegetables stay intact.
• Chop the tomatoes and place them in the same container in which the stuffed uncooked vegetables were kept. This way the remainder of the stuffing can be used up and also add flavour to the dish.
• Using a fork or a skewer check to ensure all the vegetables are cooked thoroughly. Should the vegetables be still hard, then transfer to a microwave proof vessel and cook in the microwave for 3 minutes at a time until all the vegetables are cooked.
• Add the tomatoes and 2-3 spoonfuls of water to create some gravy. Cover and cook for a few minutes more. Add 1 tsp of sugar if required.
• Transfer to a new container, garnish with chopped coriander and grated coconut.

Notes

Two tablespoons of desiccated coconut can also be added to the stuffing. Any extra stuffing can be stored either in the fridge or the freezer for use with other vegetables.

The long(almost 15 cm long) green or red Turkish peppers are great for this stuffed vegetable dish. Create a pocket of the chili by slitting along one side of this vegetable and removing the seeds. Next stuff the chili-pocket and cook as above.

Okra(Bhinda) are another great vegetable to make a stuffed shaak.