Spice Stuffed Baby Eggplant:

Indian Spice Stuffed Baby Eggplant:

Indian style spice stuffed baby eggplant, a quick and easy recipe. It's actually super quick because all you need is a spice mixture that is a medley of delicate and robust Indian spices. Good news: spice stuffed baby eggplant recipe takes just 15 minutes cooking. And the result is pure deliciousness in every bite.

This recipe is my family favorite. It has a beautiful story behind it. Although my mom makes this beautiful spice stuffed baby eggplant dish often for my dad and us, to my surprise, it's not her recipe. She inherited this from her MIL, who was based in the southern part of Orissa. While the eastern part of the state follow a simple and subtly spiced cooking style, the southern part of the state has a more fusion cuisine influenced by the neighboring southern states of India. That's why people in southern Orissa prefer spicier food than those in the eastern part. No matter how my mom learned this recipe, I always boast by saying it's her recipe. And now she has taught her recipe to us:her children, and someday, we will pass this spice stuffed baby eggplant recipe on to our children or her grandchildren.

This recipe is so simple and you will fall in love with it.

Start by selecting the best quality baby eggplants.

Tips: while checking Indian purple eggplants, press the eggplant between your finger tips. If it feels soft and leaves an indent but goes back to its original shape immediately, then it is a good and fresh eggplant. If it feels hard, it's an old eggplant with full of seeds.

And some more helpful tips for choosing the right eggplants.

How to Select the Eggplants?

• Look for eggplants that are shiny, smooth and vibrant. Dull skins denote it's an old eggplant.
• Check the stem and the cap. Vibrant and green stem means it's a young and fresh eggplant.
• Eggplants with brown stem are old.
• Eggplants that feel heavy for their size are young and fresh ones. You want these eggplants for your recipe.
• And don't forget to choose the smallest and freshest eggplants for this recipe.
• After all, you will never want those old, bitter and seedy eggplants for this recipe.

Cutting eggplants:

• For spice stuffed baby eggplants, you will need small and tiny eggplants.
• Choose the purple or lavender-purple eggplants for this recipe.
• Wash the eggplants and pat them dry.
• Cut the edge of the stem and slit the eggplant lengthwise once and then cross wise.

• Each eggplant should have four slits as shown in the picture.
• Rub each eggplants with salt and turmeric powder, allow them to rest.

• Adding salt will make them release water and reduce the bitterness if any.
• Your eggplants are ready for the venture!

Preparing the spice:

You can prepare this spice mixture in bulk and store for months in refrigerator. Just make sure not to add salt.

• The spice mixture is a combination of gram lentil, cumin seeds, fenugreek seeds, dry red chili and curry leaves. Keep each ingredient ready before you start roasting them.

• Dry roast each ingredient separately. Allow them to cool down completely before you make a semi coarse powder out of it.
• Don't make a fine powder or a very coarse powder. While the fine powder will burn while cooking, the very coarse powder will make the eggplants hard. So, semi coarse and stop there!
• Add a few tablespoons of water to two tablespoons of spice mixture, add a pinch of salt and make a thick mixture.

• Because it has roasted lentils, it soaks water and becomes thick. Once it becomes thick and pasty, add a few drops of water and make the paste little runny not watery.

Stuff the eggplant:

• Shake off the salted water from the eggplants and add the mixture to each eggplants.
• Coat the inside of the eggplant well and repeat the same process for rest of the eggplants.

Cook the eggplant:

• Add a teaspoon of oil to a nonstick frying pan. Add each eggplant carefully and cover and cook.

• Turn the eggplants after a few minutes and cover and cook again.
• Once the eggplants look half cooked, add the rest spice mixture and toss well so that the spice coats the eggplants well.

• Cook for few more minutes until eggplants are fully cooked and soft. (the eggplants will lose their shape at this stage)

• Serve the spice stuffed baby eggplant dish with cauliflower rice and daal.

Nutrition Facts:

These spice stuffed baby eggplants are not only yum, but also these are low in calorie. The recipe yields 10 serving, if you serve two eggplants per person. With just 50 cal and 7.0g total carb, this is definitely a healthy dish to include in your diet. I enjoy this spice stuffed baby eggplant dish with simple low-carb cauliflower rice and dal soup. You can eat these with roti, rice and even seasoned cauliflower rice too.

Some more Indian flavored dishes from the blog:

click on the images to visit the recipe pages!

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