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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Begun chirer pulao - a side dish using brinjal and poha

Isn't the name begun chirer pulao, catchy? However, it is slightly misleading because it is not a pulao per se. It does not make a meal by itself but it does make a spicy, lip smackingly good side dish. The recipe is from Bong mom's cookbook. I have made changes to suit our palate.

What you need:
Brinjal/eggplant - 1 large, sliced into 1/2 inch thick rounds
Poha/flattened rice/aval - 1 cup
Thick curd - 1/2 cup
Turmeric  powder - 1/2 tsp
Kashmiri chilli powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Garam masala - 1 tsp
Green chillies - 2 or 3, slit lengthwise
Asafoetida
Oil - 2 tsp + some more for drizzling over the brinjal and poha

Wash the sliced brinjals well. Sprinkle some turmeric powder and salt over the slices and let it rest in a colander for 15 minutes. Squeeze out excess water, drizzle some oil over the slices and then bake in a preheated oven at 175 degree centigrade for about 10-12 minutes, turning over once halfway through, until the slices start to shrivel up slightly on the edges. Time will vary depending on your oven. I have an option called Crisp in my microwave, which is what I used and it took me about 12 minutes.
While the brinjals are in the oven, getting cooked, mix the turmeric powder, chilli powder and a little bit of salt to the curd. Mix well and set aside.
Drizzle some oil over the poha and heat this in the microwave for about 2 minutes until the poha turns crisp.
Heat 2 tsp of oil in a thick bottomed pan. Add  a generous few pinches of asafoetida and the slit green chillies. Saute for a minute. Now reduce the heat to low and add the curd mixture. Stir well and heat until you see oil separating from the mixture. Add half a cup of water and the baked brinjal slices. Mix well and let it come to a boil. When the mixture starts thickening and 3/4th of the water content has evaporated, stir in the crisp poha and the garam masala. Mix well and switch off the heat.
Serve immediately with rice/roti.
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other marathoners doing BM#22.
 

17 comments:

sra said...

I must look up MWing poha to make it crisp, then I can make that poha mixture which is usually deep-fried.

Unknown said...

a very new and interesting dish for me!!! thanks for sharing!!
Sowmya

Ongoing Event - CWF - Whole Wheat Flour
Ongoing Event - Let's Party - Eggless Bakes and Treats

Vidya Chandrahas said...

Poha with brinjal is new to me..pulao looks delicious.

Unknown said...

Lovely side dish...

Priya Suresh said...

Brinjal and poha, can guess the taste of this dish.

Rajani S said...

Never heard of this recipe before! Poha with brinjal sounds really interesting!

Srivalli said...

Ok not only the name is catchy, it's quite interesting to read the ingredients as well..:)

Vani said...

Looks like I'd missed the post when Sandeepa posted it. What an unusual combo! I gotta try.

Reshmi Mahesh said...

New and yummy looking recipe...

Anonymous said...

Very interesting. Love it

Unknown said...

I wanted to do this in my first week Bengali theme. But I don't eat brinjal so missed it delicious recipe..

Padmajha said...

Wow!That's a very interesting combo of ingredients.Would love to try it out...

Bharathy said...

A new name and totally a new combo of ingredients! Interesting!

Pavani said...

What an interesting and delicious combination of ingredients.. Sounds delicious.

Unknown said...

I have given you the Sunshine Award. Check the details here: http://thoushaltcook.wordpress.com/2012/12/05/sunshine-award/

www.mahaslovelyhome.com said...

perfectly done n beautiful luking dish
BTW Iam back to blogging n im ur new follwer too.PLZ visit my space if gets sum time n plz check out my new FB page dear..Hope u vl clik on like on FB page dear.Thanx in advance...
Maha

Bharathy said...

back here, i wanted to try this recipe.but then the season's sweets and baking bug caught me.badly :)