The Konkani name of eggplant is “Vayngana”, ‘n’ is pronounced by nose, but usually while typing, I have seen it is written as ‘Vaygana’. The name “bajji” is a bit confusing as this is not the normal deep fried fritter. I am yet to find out the significance of this name.
This dish is a kind of “Baingan ka bhartha”, but the Konkani ‘bhartha’ or ‘bharth’ has the ground coconut chutney in it. For ‘bajji’ we do not grind coconut. Both have exact same ingredients, but the preparation method makes them taste very different. But there are few people who call this dish as ‘bharth’.
This dish is usually served with a kind of rice rotti prepared on banana leaf. This rotti is called “mumbri” or “cholkya vayli rotti” . This is my favorite breakfast combination. Alternatively, this can even be served as a side dish with rice and papad.
Bajji is also called ‘Karmana’ and when this is prepared with the green eggplants called “gulla”, this is called “gulla karmana”.
Ingredients: Eggplant 1 big Coconut 1/2 cup Green chillies or red chillies 3-4 Tamarind 1/2 tea spn Asafoetida a pinch Salt
If the eggplants available in India are used, increase the number. After smoking, at least 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of pulp should remain. 1/2 cup of chopped onions can also be included in this dish. But I prefer the version without onion.
Method: Smoke the eggplant as explained here . Peel the skin and put the pulp in water.
Keep it in water for 5-10mins and discard the water. Mix coconut, green chilies, tamarind, onion(if using), asafoetida and salt with hand.
Now add the pulp and mix well. Add 1-2tbl spn of water if required. Serve with rice rotti (mumbri) .
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 15mins
PS: Will post the mumbri recipe tomorrow.
Cholko – A piece of leaf. Usually a piece of banana leaf is called ‘cholko’ in Konkani. Vayli – on top of ‘Cholkya vayli bhakri’ or ‘cholkya bhakri’ means a rotti prepared on banana leaf. I have no such explanation for the name ‘mumbri’ :).
As I mentioned here , this is one of my favorite breakfasts. Aayi serves this rotti with chutney pitto -ghee or vaygana bajji or ‘dhidir chutney’ (Mix 1/2 cup grated coconut with 3/4 tea spn chili powder, 1/2 tea spn sugar and salt. Mix well with hand) or coconut chutney . My personal preference is Mumbri with Vaygana bajji and dhidir chutney.
I have seen sweet bhakri also where this dish is prepared with jack fruit. I loved the simple non-sweet version among all.
In the last 9 months, I searched every possible store here for banana leaves. But last week when I found a frozen packet in Chinese store here, I immediately grabbed it and prepared my favorite breakfast. It tasted heavenly. I do not think any paper(like parchment paper) can replace the banana leaf, because banana leaf leaves a nice aroma when it is fried.
All the pictures for this post were taken at my native.
Ingredients: 1 cup rice flour 1/2 cup coconut(fresh or frozen) 1/4 cup onion(optional) Ghee Salt
I did not use onion while taking the picture.
Method: Mix all the ingredients into a soft dough with water (do not make it too hard, there should be some water to make spreading easier).
Take a piece of banana leaf. Spread a thin layer of dough on it(use a little water if it is difficult to spread).
Cover with a banana leaf of same size.
Heat tava and fry the roti. When the bottom side leaf looks a bit brownish, turn over(along with the leaf).
Remove the brownish leaf slowly and discard. Again turn and remove the second leaf. Fry on both sides(without leaf). Apply ghee if desired.
Serve hot with any of the above mentioned sides.
Serves : 2-3 Preparation time : 15mins
Note: The softness of this rotti depends largely on rice flour. In Bangalore, I had tried it many times and always felt it was not up to the mark. At my native, Aayi’s version is always very soft. Then she told me the flour which I bought in Bangalore was not very fine. With same proportions I tried here and it was superb. So make sure to use very fine rice flour.
