• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
My Dainty Soul Curry
  • Snacks
  • Salads
  • Desserts
  • Main Dish
  • Sides
  • Instant Pot
  • Air Fryer
  • Drinks
  • Breakfast
  • Condiments
  • Spices
  • Recipes
  • Giveaways
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Snacks
  • Salads
  • Desserts
  • Main Dish
  • Sides
  • Instant Pot
  • Air Fryer
  • Drinks
  • Breakfast
  • Condiments
  • Spices
  • Recipes
  • Giveaways
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
search icon
Homepage link
  • Snacks
  • Salads
  • Desserts
  • Main Dish
  • Sides
  • Instant Pot
  • Air Fryer
  • Drinks
  • Breakfast
  • Condiments
  • Spices
  • Recipes
  • Giveaways
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
×

Home » Recipes » Sides

Spice Stuffed Baby Eggplant:

Last Updated: Feb 22, 2022 by Sophie · This post may contain affiliate links · 11 Comments

Jump to Recipe - Print Recipe
Spice stuffed baby eggplant Indian style #vegan #healthy
Spice stuffed baby eggplant Indian style #vegan #healthy
Spice stuffed baby eggplant Indian style #vegan #healthy

Indian Spice Stuffed Baby Eggplant:

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.

Jump to the recipe
spice stuffed baby eggplant

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.

spice stuffed baby eggplant

And some more helpful tips for choosing the right eggplants.

See also
Vegan Chicken Kofta Meatballs in Curry Sauce

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.
spice stuffed baby eggplant

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.
spice stuffed baby eggplant
  • Each eggplant should have four slits as shown in the picture.
  • Rub each eggplants with salt and turmeric powder, allow them to rest.
spice stuffed baby eggplant
  • Adding salt will make them release water and reduce the bitterness if any.
  • Your eggplants are ready for the venture!
spice stuffed baby eggplant

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.
spice stuffed baby eggplant
  • 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.
spice stuffed baby eggplant
  • 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.
spice stuffed baby eggplant

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.
spice stuffed baby eggplant

Cook the eggplant:

  • Add a teaspoon of oil to a nonstick frying pan. Add each eggplant carefully and cover and cook.
spice stuffed baby eggplant
  • 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.
spice stuffed baby eggplant
  • Cook for few more minutes until eggplants are fully cooked and soft. (the eggplants will lose their shape at this stage)
spice stuffed baby eggplant
  • Serve the spice stuffed baby eggplant dish with cauliflower rice and daal.
spice stuffed baby eggplant

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.

spice stuffed eggplant
spice stuffed eggplant


spice stuffed eggplant

Spice Stuffed Baby Eggplants

Enjoy these spicy and tasty baby eggplants stuffed with a spice mixture and cooked till perfection. The best part is that it's a super easy and quick recipe that you will love to make.
5 from 4 votes
See also
Instant Pot Wonton Soup (Vegan)
Print Pin Rate
Course: Side Dish
Cuisine: Indian
Keyword: baby eggplant, easy instant pot, eggplant spicy, indian eggplant curry, instant pot indian
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 5
Calories: 50kcal
Cost: $6

Equipment

  • Instant pot

Ingredients

Spice mixture

  • 4 teaspoon urad dal or split dehusked black gram lentils
  • 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 7-8 fenugreek seeds or methi
  • ¼ cup curry leaves
  • 4-5 dry red chilies, (mild or hot)

Baby Eggplants

  • 10 small purple baby eggplants
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Miscellaneous

  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 teaspoon oil, (neutral oil)
  • salt to taste

Instructions

Prepare the spice mixture

  • 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.
  • Add a few tablespoons of water to one tablespoon 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 eggplants

  • Shake off the excess salt and salted water from the eggplants and add the mixture to each eggplants with a spoon or by using your fingers.
  • Coat the inside of the eggplant well and repeat the same process for rest of the eggplants.

Cook the eggplants

  • 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.
  • Serve with cauliflower rice and daal.

Instant pot method

  • Set the IP to a sauté mode and add oil when it says HOT in the display.
    Pressure cooking in instant pot
  • Now carefully add eggplants and brown from each sides (1-2 minutes).
  • Add rest of the spice mixture and half a cup of water.
  • Close the lid and set the instant pot to pressure cooking in manual mode for 3-minutes.
  • Once pressure time is over, wait for the beep and then quick release pressure.
  • Open the lid and set the IP to sauté mode again.
  • It’s okay if you see some water at this point. We will use the sauté mode to dry up the water.
  • Sauté for 5-8 minutes till the eggplants are nicely roasted and dry.
  • Serve with cauliflower rice and dal.
    spice stuffed eggplant
Find us on Pinterest!Follow MyDaintySoulCurry!
Check our YouTube recipe videos!Here is MyDaintySoulCurry Channel!

Notes

  • Use fresh and young baby eggplants for this recipe.
  • Don't add excess salt to the eggplants or to the spice mixture.
  • Add more oil while cooking if you are not using a nonstick pan.
See also
Instant Pot Carrots {and Peas}
Tried this recipe?Mention @Mydainty_soulcurry or tag #mydaintysoulcurry!

Nutrition

Serving: 150g | Calories: 50kcal
Let’s stay connected!Follow @MyDaintySoul!

Some more Indian flavored dishes from the blog:

click on the images to visit the recipe pages!

Instant tofu dosa
Instant tofu dosa
Curry Marinade
Tandoori tofu

Try Amazon Prime 30-Day Free Trial

« Homemade Flaxseed Milk Walnut Milk Recipe
Vegan Cloud Bread Recipe »

Sharing is caring!

448 shares
  • Facebook1
  • Twitter
  • Email

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Elena

    June 19, 2017 at 9:00 pm

    5 stars
    Loved the recipe and spice!

    Reply
    • Sophie

      June 19, 2017 at 11:10 pm

      Thank you ?

      Reply
  2. Lathiya

    June 20, 2017 at 9:50 am

    Looks scrumptious ?

    Reply
    • Sophie

      June 20, 2017 at 11:06 am

      Thank you Lathiya

      Reply
  3. Raj

    June 20, 2017 at 2:12 pm

    5 stars
    Nice

    Reply
    • Sophie

      June 20, 2017 at 4:10 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  4. Marcela

    June 20, 2017 at 4:25 pm

    5 stars
    Looks yummy...i will surely try this combination.

    Reply
    • Sophie

      June 20, 2017 at 4:47 pm

      Thank you!

      Reply
  5. kalyani subuddhi

    June 21, 2017 at 9:52 am

    5 stars
    Utterly delicious???

    Reply
    • Sophie

      June 21, 2017 at 10:13 am

      Thank you, and always yours!

      Reply
  6. Mina

    April 01, 2020 at 11:28 am

    Since my family has a little bit of a sweet tooth I added about 1 tsp of sugar & 1/2 tsp of am honor powder & it turned out great . Thanks for the recipe

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Sophie profile photo.

Hi, I'm Sophie! Created this blog to share the best plant-based Indian and world recipes.

More about me →

Popular

  • How To Cook Tofu - Six Easy Ways
  • Vegan Keto Falafel
  • Keto Cauliflower Queso
  • Vindaloo Curry

Recent Recipes

  • Juicy Grilled Pineapple
  • Homemade Water Kefir Recipe
  • Broad Beans Pasta in White Sauce
  • Pan Roasted Crispy Yam

Pages

  • Meet Me
  • Contact Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Recipe Index

Copyright © 2023 · My Daint Soul Curry LLC

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Pinterest
  • Email