Smoked Eggplant Chutney
Smoked Eggplant Chutney is a South-Indian style chutney made with flame roasted eggplant or large brinjal along with fresh coconut, urad dal, tamarind and green chillies. This chutney is known as ‘Sutta Kathrika Chutney’ in Tamil, where Sutta refers to burnt or roast and Kathrika as in brinjal. This chutney is a perfect accompaniment to all kinds of Idli, Dosa, Adai etc.
Idli and Dosa varieties are pretty much a staple in South-Indian cuisine and it is always a question what do we make for it’s accompaniment today! Coconut chutney and Onion-Tomato Chutney being the most common ones and yet being delicious, it could be monotonous at times. So if you are looking for some varieties of chutney, this chutney is definitely to be added to your list. It is quite unique and yum.
Smoked or charred Eggplant is also commonly used in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine for making quite a popular meze dip known as Baba Ganoush. This dip is silky smooth and tastes fabulous. Likewise, this chutney is a close sibling of Baba Ganoush in terms of the recipe category which is an accompaniment and main ingredient, which is smoked eggplant.
This smoked eggplant chutney is a signature recipe of my mom and I haven’t changed a bit about it. It is an absolute favourite in our house whenever we make Adai or Adai Dosa. It simply pairs so well this Dosa especially. It is a pretty simple recipe with minimal ingredients and can be made quickly for breakfasts. Also, this is a no-onion and no-garlic recipe, so this recipe works great for those who avoid these ingredients.
For making this chutney, we need the large purple eggplant or aubergine which is also known as Bharta Baingan. The eggplant is roasted over flame till it is completely charred and the inner flesh is completely cooked and mushy. This eggplant is now ground either in mixer or pestle and mortar with fresh grated coconut, tamarind, green chillies, curry leaves, roasted urad dal and asafoetida. The chutney is finished with a tempering of mustard seeds and curry leaves in gingelly oil. I particularly recommend the use of gingelly or sesame oil for this chutney as it gives a wonderful flavour.
Here are a few tips to keep in mind while making this chutney:
- Use fresh large sized eggplant for this chutney. The small brinjal does not work well for this recipe as it cannot be charred properly.
- Try to select an eggplant which has less seeds. Sometimes the eggplant with more seeds tends to be a bit better and it would alter the taste of the chutney.
- The eggplant has to be well charred and cooked through inside. A good indication of this is that the size of the eggplant should slightly shrink after roasting it over flame and then resting it.
- Do not grind this chutney too smooth. It tastes best when it is coarsely ground and few broken pieces of urad dal in chutney gives it a good texture and crunch.
- Top it with some raw gingelly oil on top while serving for added taste. You can use gingelly oil for tempering as well for best flavours.
Serving Suggestion
This chutney can be served as an accompaniment to many South-Indian breakfast dishes like Idli, Dosa and Vada varieties. This chutney especially pairs well with Adai Dosa. Add a teaspoon of fresh gingelly oil on top while serving this chutney. It enhances the taste significantly.
Smoked Eggplant Chutney | Sutta Kathrika Chutney
Ingredients
- 1 large Eggplant or Aubergiene 300-400 grams
- ½ cup Grated Fresh Coconut
- 1 large pinch Tamarind
- 2 tbsp Urad Dal
- 3-4 Green Chillies
- 3 tbsp Gingelly Oil
- Coriander Leaves big handful
- 3 sprigs Curry Leaves
- ¼ tsp Asafoetida
- 1 tsp Mustard Seeds
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Grease the eggplant with little oil
- Cook the eggplant directly over high flame turning around each side till it is completely charred from outside and slightly shrunk in size.
- Rest the roasted eggplant for few minutes.
- Carefully peel off the charred skin from the eggplant. Get rid of all the small black charred skin. Slightly mash using hand. It should be soft from inside as well.
- In a pan, heat 1 tablespoon of gingelly oil and add 2 tablespoons of whole urad dal and tamarind. Roast on low flame till the urad dal is golden in colour. Add 1 sprig of curry leaves and asafoetida. Turn off the flame.
- Transfer the roasted urad dal mixture and smoked eggplant to a grinder jar. Add in the coriander, chopped green chillies, salt and half heap cup of fresh grated coconut.
- Pulse grind the mixture till it comes together. This chutney tastes best when it is coarsely ground. So don't grind for too long. Transfer the chutney to a serving bowl.
- For making the tempering, heat 2 tablespoons of gingelly oil in kadai and add 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds. Once it sputters, add 2 sprigs of curry leaves and turn off the flame.
- Transfer the tempering to the chutney and mix well.
Notes
- Make sure to roast the eggplant/ brinjal till it is completely charred. The eggplant has to be cooked thoroughly.
- Try to pick the eggplant which has less seeds, as it is less likely to be bitter.
- Do not grind this chutney too smooth, it tastes best when it is ground coarsely.
- This chutney tends to turn dark when exposed to air, so keep this chutney closed once ground.. This oxidation is reduced to a certain extent with a layer of oil on top. If it turns dark despite this, just give it a good mix and it will be back to normal colour.
- You may adjust the green chillies according to your spice level.
- Gingelly oil pairs best with this chutney.
