Brinjal Gojju: Tangy Brinjal Chutney With A South Indian Twist
Image Credit: YouTube @Udupi-Recipes

It's beautiful to come across such an endless variety of recipes for a single food item throughout our country, where each one carries its cultural legacy with it. Take for instance the extremely common Brinjal Chutney or Baingan ka Bharta. This recipe keeps changing with subtle variations from Bihar to Karnataka. Shifting focus to Karnataka’s Brinjal Gojju, it is a paste of brinjal and tomatoes, seasoned with a few spices and marked by quick preparation time and no roasting. Instead, this Chutney goes through light sauteing of the vegetables in oil and incorporates some key ingredients like tamarind, asafoetida, and salt. These along with a tempering of curry leaves and red chillies makes it a flavourful condiment.

Many Ways Of Cooking Baingan Ka Bharta 

Baingan Ka Bharta is an extremely common side dish made and eaten throughout India with some interesting variations, each of them being special in itself. There’s a Classic Smokey Baingan Ka Bharta, of Bihar and UP, where brinjal is roasted on a tava with garlic pieces inserted by making small slits on the brinjal, and mashed and mixed with mustard oil, onion, chillies and coriander leaves. Then there is Punjabi Baingan Ka Bharta, which also goes through the process of roasting brinjals, but is seasoned with a tempering of cumin seeds, finely chopped onions and green chillies fried in oil. Compared to these two, the Dhaba Style Baingan Ka Bharta is the spiciest where brinjals and tomatoes are roasted on an open flame and then mixed with a hot masala prepared with chopped onions, ginger-garlic paste and various spices.

What's the difference between Chutney And Bharta?

Well, not much but still the two can be differentiated clearly for some features. In Indian cuisine, Bharta is a dish where the vegetables or the ingredients are roughly mashed and mixed with chopped chillies, onions and other vegetables of one’s choice, just Aloo Bharta. Chutney, on the other hand, is a mixture of veggies seasoned with spices and all blended into a smooth paste, like coriander and coconut chutney.

Preparation: 30 minutes

Cooking: 15-20 minutes

Servings: 3

Ingredients:

  • 1 large-sized brinjal
  • 1 tbsp oil 
  • ½ cup chopped tomatoes
  • 2 green chillies 
  • A lemon-sized tamarind
  • 1 tsp turmeric powder 
  • 2 tbsp coriander leaves 
  • 1 tsp salt

For tempering:

  • 1 tsp oil 
  • ½ tsp mustard seeds 
  • ½ tsp white lentils
  • A few curry leaves 
  • 1 red chilli broken

Method:

  • Cut the brinjals into small cubes and immerse them in water for 10 minutes.
  • In a pan, heat oil, add chopped tomatoes and green chillies and saute for 5 minutes until tomatoes turn soft.
  • Add the tamarind, asafoetida, and turmeric powder and saute well.
  • Transfer the immersed brinjal cubes to the pan and add salt.
  • Saute for 2-3 minutes. Cover and cook at medium to low heat until brinjal softens.
  • When brinjals soften, add coriander leaves, stir for a minute and turn off the flame.
  • Let it cool down. Transfer the brinjals and tomato mixture to a blender jar and grind them into a coarse paste.
  • Transfer the paste to a bowl.
  • In a tadka pan, pour oil and add mustard seeds, curry leaves, red chillies and white lentils to it. Let everything splutter.
  • Then add this tempering to the brinjal chutney.

Try this Karnataka version of Baingan Gojju someday replacing the common roasted Baingan Ka Bharta. It is differently spicy and tasty without the addition of onions and powdered spices and is a great accompaniment with the lunch meal or pakoras and fritters in the evening.