Brinjal-Drumstick Sambhar (Gulla Maskasange Kolmbo)

Brinjals/ Eggplant are in season these days. Ironically, whenever I found a nice plump Eggplant, the freshly plucked Drumsticks were out of sight and vice-versa and that prevented me from making this Sambhar for the longest time. Finally, the day dawned and I found them both at the local Indian store and I was darn happy. This is a variety of Sambhar I grew up eating. Incidentally, this is my Dad's favorite dish and he enjoys this Sambhar served with cooked white rice along with Papad and Vodi.

In India, my parents use a special variety of Brinjal known as Gulla which is available only for a short time during particular months of the year in Udupi/ Mangalore region and surrounding areas. Since I can't find them here, I use the purple skinned Brinjal also known as Japanese Eggplant. Gulla is Eggplant, Maskansang is Drumstick hence Gulla Maskasange Kolmbo.

Another interesting thing about this dish is the vegetables cook quickly, all you need is boiled Toor Dal to put everything together. This in turn helps me save a lot of time and on a busy day it matters quite a lot. 

~ Gulla Maskasange Kolmbo ~

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

Eggplant (diced into big chunky cubes of 2") - 5 cups
Boiled split Pigeon Peas/ Toor Dal - 2 and 1/2 -3 cups

Sambhar Powder/ Kolmbo Pitti - 2 tbsp

Drumstick (peeled and cut into 3" sticks) - 2 cups

Asafoetida - 1/5 tsp

Tamarind pulp - 1/2 tsp

Salt

For Seasoning - 

Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp

Curry Leaves - 1 sprig

Ghee/ Oil

For Garnish -

Coriander leaves (finely chopped) - 3-4 tbsp

Method:

Rinse the vegetables, trim off the tip and stem of eggplant. Dice them into large chunks of 2" pieces. Peel the Drumstick with a peeler to get rid of the thick green fiber and cut them into sticks which are 3" long. Cook the vegetables with lightly watered down boiled Toor Dal. Bring to boil and simmer on low flame, covered with lid on till par-cooked.  This takes around 5-8 minutes.

Once par-cooked, add salt, add Sambhar powder, and tamarind pulp in little warm water. Mix well to get a smooth paste, add this paste to the boiled vegetable-daal broth - adjust salt, spice level, add asafoetida and adjust consistency as desired. Simmer for few minutes till completely cooked. Turn off flame and set aside.
In a small frying pan, heat few spoons of oil, season with mustard seeds and once they splutter  add curry leaves. Pour this seasoning over the freshly made Sambhar and garnish with chopped Coriander leaves. Mix few minutes before serving, goes well with cooked Basmati Rice.

Stuffed Baby Brinjal (Gulla Puddi Sagle)

In Konkani cuisine, we make two kinds of dishes with 'Sagle' masala. In my household, Ma makes Okra (Bhendaa) Sagle and Gulla Puddi Sagle. I love the flavor of Sagle masala/ masolu, though the approach and method to Bhendaa Sagle is little different from Gulla Sagle. Sagle masala is made of Urad Dal and Coriander seeds (Urad Kothambiri). Everyone in my family loves this dish, especially my father.

Traditionally, for Brinjal Sagle, a typical variety of Brinjal is used, also known as Udupi Mattu Gulla in Konkani. It is a tiny, oblong, shiny seasonal variety of Brinjal and available only during particular times of the year. Upon cooking, its soft and succulent with tiny little seeds staring at you in the face. I used tiny green hued baby Brinjals for this dish which are easily available in Indian grocery stores in US between Fall and Winter time. The masala is ground to a coarse paste, the Brinjals are rinsed with double gashes added on the stem side. Once cooked, the tender Brinjals soak in the divine smelling coconut paste and taste uber delicious! The dish goes well for tender Brinjals, especially the pale green skinned ones.

~ Gulla Puddi Sagle ~
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10-12 minutes
Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients:
Baby Brinjal ~ Gulla (stem trimmed and double gashed) - 6
Salt

For Seasoning -
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Oil

For Masala -
Grated Coconut - 3/4 cup
Urad Dal - 2 tbsp
Coriander seeds - 1 and 1/2 tbsp
Red Chillies (Byadgi preferred) - 7-10
Jaggery - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp

Method:
Getting the Brinjal ready - Rinse the Brinjals and trim off the stem. Make double gashes on the stem side of the trimmed Brinjal. Throw them in a bowl of cold water. Leave it aside.
Masala - Roast red chillies, coriander seeds, urad dal on a low flame with few tsp of oil. Once done turn off the flame, add the grated coconut and let the coconut wilt for a while in the hot pan. Add salt, jaggery, turmeric powder and grind this to a coarse paste with very little water. The paste should be stiff, thick and not runny (sukke). Stuff this paste in the gashes added in the Brinjal. Finally, cap each of the Brinjal with the remaining ground paste. Rinse the blender and save the water for cooking Brinjals.
Cooking the stuffed Brinjals - In a deep bottomed pan, heat few spoons of oil and season with mustard seeds and curry leaves. Place the stuffed Brinjals side by side with the stem side up, pour the remaining masala by the side of the Brinjals. Add the rinsed water from the blender and bring to a boil, simmer on low flame for 5-8 minutes with the lid on. The Brinjals turn a shade lighter and should be completely cooked. Use a toothpick and run it through the centre core of the Brinjal, if it comes out clean, the cooking is done. Turn off the flame and serve warm as a side dish.

Step-by-Step Pictures:
1. Trim the cap off the stem and add double gashes and immerse in cold water. This enables the gashes to open up and make the masala stuffing process easy.

2. Add the seasoning and pour the rinsed water, arrange the Brinjals side by side and bring to boil and cook on simmer.

Seared Baby Brinjal (Vaangi Talaasana)

Vaangi or Vaingana is Brinjal/ Eggplant in Marathi and Konkani respectivey. Growing up, we preferred soupy parboiled rice few days in a week for dinner, it is also called as Paej or Ganji Utaa. I love to combine Paej with Vegetable side dish of different sorts.

When I was a yuppy fussy teeny bopper, Mom delegated the task of preparing and planning dinner side dish to me. I discovered cooking wasn't that difficult if one had the relentless pursuit pepped with creativity to keep trying. It was much of a training period for me in disguise. As much as I vehemently protested, spending time in the kitchen discovering the otherwise alien sort of spices and vegetables certainly pleased my senses!

I also began to respect the effort which every individual puts in the meal preparation process be it for family dinners, lunches or large gatherings for that matter. I learned to perfect this recipe and over a period of time everybody used to relish this preparation, especially my Daddy. For best results, use tender Brinjal. I used Kokum, the tangy sour konkan fruit to neutralize and balance the spicy flavour.

~ Vaangi Talaasana ~

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients:
Brinjal/ Eggplant (diced into 1/4" pieces) - 2 cups
Garlic (crushed) - 2-3 jumbo pods
Red Chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder - 1/3 teaspoon
Green Chilli (optional) - 1
Kokum (wet) - 2 shells
Salt
Oil/Ghee

Method:
Wash the Brinjal and dice them into thin 1/4" slices. In a deep dish pan, heat few spons of oil, temper with crushed garlic and green chillies. Saute till they are seared. Add the diced Brinjal pieces now. Add the spice powders, salt and stir for couple of minutes. All the Brinjal pieces should get an even coating of spice powder. Add the Kokum shell now and stir. Sprikle handful of water and cover with a lid and simmer on low flame. Brinjal steam cooks in it own juices. Cook till completely done. The pieces wilt and reduce in size upon cooking. Remove Kokum shells while servings if required. Serve warm as a side dish.

Udupi Mattu Gulla or Udupi Brinjal - An Essay

The story of Udupi Brinjal or Gulla begins with a key figure, a saint named Swami Vaadiraja. In Udupi, a special variety of Brinjal is known as Mattu Gulla or Matti Gulla. This is a heirloom variety of seed with a 100+ year old legacy and age; grows only in the land of Udupi at a small village named Mattu, located near Udayavar. This story was narrated to me by my mother. Swami Vaadiraja used to offer a delicacy prasad named Hayagreeva Maddi to Lord Hayagreeva, a white horse lord. Hayagreeva Maddi is a sweet delicacy made of Bengal Gram, Jaggery, Ghee and Grated Coconut. Incidentally, this is my mothers favorite sweet as well. Vaadiraja used to offer the offering everyday to Lord Hayagreeva. This Maddi was kept on his head and the horse-shaped lord would partake some portion of it and leave some for Vaadiraja.

Some devotees who did not get to eat the Maddi plotted a plan and mixed poison in one such preparation. As usual, Vaadiraaja offered the offering to Lord Hayagreeva and no sooner he had a portion of it, he turned blue. Lord Hayagreeva did not leave any morsel for Vaadiraaja and cleaned the bowl. Incidentally, the Udupi Krishna idol turned blue. The same night around, Vaadiraaja had a dream that few seeds of a brinjal ought to be given to Udupi village farmers hailing from a place named Mattu. They would be required to harvest a crop and offer the Mattu Gulla or Brinjal to Lord Krishna. The Brinjal would serve as a remedy for extracting the poison off the lord. Promptly, the farmers sowed the seeds, harvested the crop and offered the Gulla to Lord Krishna and thereby the poison removed. This is the famous folklore associated with the origin of Mattu Gulla.

This Brinjal came to be known as the famous Mattu Gulla or Matti Gulla. This Brinjal is green in colors opposed to conventional blue Brinjals. The crown of the Brinjal has thorns on it and this Brinjal grows only in the land of Udupi. The Brinjal has a spherical, oblong apperance with a light and dark green hue as shown in the picture. The other picture is a successful attempt to harvest a Mattu Brinjal grown at a friends place in Udupi in the nascent stage. Even to this date, the villagers come from Mattu to Udupi Krishna Math before sowing the seeds. Once the crop is done and the harvest is ready, the first harvest is offered to Udupi Krishna Math, Udupi and then sold in markets and commercial areas. The Gulla once immersed in water oozes a blackish liquid and hence the water turns black.

Recently, the Udupi Brinjal was in news for lot of reasons. Apparently, the genetic modification of the crop would result in loss of the original composition and makeup of the the famous Brinjal. I was sad to note this as I have been eating the delicious, rare, green Brinjals ever since I was a kid. Hope the centre takes a firm decision to abhor and stop the practice thereby giving the Brinjals their unique identity and status for which they are well known for.

We make lot of delicacies of Brinjal like Stuffed Brinjal (Gulla Puddi Sagley), Gulla Fritters (Gulla Bajey), Gulla Sambhar (Gulla Kolmbo). My granny awaits the Gulla season to arrive so that the enture family can sample a piece of this tradition which has a rich legacy and saga associated with it. She has one old lady Farmer who supplies us with Gulla straight from farm since last 25 years; every year when the harvest season completes, she first comes to our place because she knows half of her supply would dwindle in a minute. I hope and pray that the genetic modification battle ends on its own without hampering the originality and the genetic makeup of this great vegetable which we all adore in my family.

Update - [Further to this post getting published, a good samaritan send me a link on the whole debate of genetic modification of Matti Gulla. The need for Mattu Gulla to attain a GI Status, Geographical Indication is the crux of the debate. The sad part is the Brinjal would lose its essence should the GI status be opted for, owing to further propagation of the modified form of Brinjal which leads me to believe that the original taste and flavour of the Brinjal would be compromised for. I know that having eaten vegetables for ages this need not be a big issue but considering the various marvels of technology and the bane it brings along, this is just the beginning. The day is not far when most of the vegetables which we consume are genetically modified and revolutionised to a great degree beyond recognition. The taste would be a far cry from what you consumed as a child. My empathy goes to the hard working Farmers who would lose out a great share of the productivity pie if the move gets replicated to other vegetables leave alone the good old Brinjal. The article and subject matter details can be found on this article]