Badnekaayi Chutney

Chapati with ridgegourd raita and Badnekaayi Chutney

This here is a very rustic kind of dish. The modern day blenders don't do any justice to this one as a simple pestle and mortar would. Though it is just a condiment/chutney/dip, and it sits insignificantly in one corner of your plate, the smokey flavor, the coarse texture and the heat in every bite transport you back to an era of dark low roofed kitchens, with stoves burning firewood, heavy brass plates to eat in, a mat on the mud smeared floor to sit on and loving hands serving you.

I must warn you about the heat level of this chutney though. It is a bit(?!?!?!) on the UP side of the scale. But that is how it is supposed to be. Usually it is served with a dab of oil or ghee(clarified butter) on top of it. But the brave at heart, go for it as is. whatever you prefer, it sure is a treat! Hope y'all enjoy.

Ingredients :

1 Medium sized Italian Eggplant or 4 medium Indian Eggplants
(Eggplant = badnekaayi/baingan)
1/4 cup finely chopped Onions
3-4 cloves of Garlic
3-4 Green Chillies
1 cup Coriander leaves, washed and trimmed
1/2 inch piece of Tamarind
Salt, to taste

Method :

1. Rub cooking oil onto the eggplant/s and roast them directly on the flame until the skin gets all charred up. If you don't have access to flame, you can broil them in the oven, turning once in a while until all the sides are black.
2. Keep the roasted eggplants in a covered vessel for about 10 minutes. This will allow them to get cooked on the inside.
3. In the meanwhile, dry roast the garlic and the green chillies until black spots appear on them.
4. Now, remove the eggplant/s from the covered vessel. Peel out and discard the charred skin. Mash the flesh to a coarse pulp.
5. Add the Coriander leaves, green chillies, garlic, tamarind and salt into a blender and grind into a fine paste.(see Note below)
6. Take the paste into a bowl, add the mashed eggplant/s pulp and the chopped onions and mix well. Enjoy spicy chutney with akki rotti, or chapatis.

Note: If you don't like the texture of crunchy onions in your chutney, you can dry roast the onions too, and add it with the other ingredients to make the paste.

Closeup View

Well, for all its worth, this was meant to be an entry for the Chutney/Dip Mania event hosted by Ramya of Mane Adige and I missed it by ONE WEEK straight! :-(