ENGAYI

Engayi!

The term “engayi” meaning enne kayi has to be prepared with oil and no water. But these days we have modified this by using if not too much water atleast a little bit of it. The same engayi is first prepared and then this is mixed with rice to make it vangibath (vangi as in brinjal and bath is rice). Before going in to vangibath lets first get to know how to prepare engayi.

Ingredients:

Potato-3 to 4(big ones)
Brinjal-7 small purple ones (although the best one to do engai is from the green long brinjals)
Sambhar powder- 3 tbl spns (sambhar powder recipe is coming up soon)
Jaggery-1 inch piece
Tamarind- ½ lemon sized (soak in one fourth cup water before you start)
Coriander leaves- ½ cup
Coconut- 2 tbl spns
Salt as per taste

For seasoning:

Mustard - 1tspn
Bengal gram- 1tspn
Black gram- 1tspn
Curry leaves- 10 leaves
Oil-3 tbl spns

Preparation:
1. Cut brinjal and potato in lengthwise like shown in picture.
2. Take oil in a pan, add the seasonings, and then add the brinjal and fry for few minutes till the raw smell goes.
3. Add the potatoes to this and fry for a couple of minutes. Pour in ½ cup water to cook the veggies. Add jaggery and salt; close the lid to cook for 5 minutes.
4. Add the juice of tamarind, sambhar powder, coconut, and allow to cook the veggies completely.
5. Finally add coriander leaves for garnishing.

This method is usually followed by iyengars although it’s made in lot more ways. In Karnataka alone we have many varieties of engayi. I know one of my neighbour aunties prepares this in a different way and what she makes is also awesome!