Kashmiri Tamatar Wangun

Hello all, I have been looking for the weekend to unwind myself after a nerve-racking week. Yes, returning to normalcy after an exotic vacation in Tennessee.  I needed such extended holiday in such an eventful year. If you want to know more about my Tennessee vacation, check my brief post about my travel under travel diaries 

My fridge was wiped out clean and I was managing with the available supplies. My breakfasts are devoid of vegetables and I had mostly variety rice for the last couple of days.  The coming weekend will be more demanding as I need to catch up with all household chores. But then, no one can stop me from my blog space. Here, I bring a recipe as easy as ABC from my kitchen

Tamatar Wangun is an authentic Kashmiri Pundit recipe with no garlic and in some case prepared with or without onions. This is a simple yet flavorful dish prepared by cooking fried eggplants in a tomato base with spices. This is a house favorite of Srinagar, Kashmir, houseboat owner Maqsood Ahmad Madarie. Wangun is a popular ingredient in the northwest region of Kashmir and sometimes it is fried with greens, stirred with tomato sauce or sun-dried. This can be prepared in less than 30 minutes and tastes delicious with boiled rice.

Ingredients:

• 8 small Brinjals
• 3 medium sized tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons of Oil
• 1 teaspoon Cumin seeds
• ¼ teaspoons of asafoetida
• ¼ teaspoon of Turmeric
• 1 teaspoon dry ginger powder
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri Red chili powder
• ½ cup Water
• Salt as required

Method:

• Wash brinjals/eggplants and cut them lengthwise. Allow the brinjal pieces to air dry so that moisture is completely absorbed.
• Once it is dry, add a tablespoon of oil in a non-stick kadai and fry the brinjal pieces until they turn slightly brown.
• Chop tomatoes finely.
• Heat the remaining oil in the same non-stick pan used for frying eggplants over medium heat.
• Once the oil is hot, add cumin seeds and cook them until they turn brownish
• Add asafetida to cumin seeds.
• Now, add the chopped tomatoes and cook them until they become soft and turn mushy.
• Add the spice powders – dry ginger powder, chili powder, turmeric powder and salt to the tomato mixture and combine them well.
• Simmer the flame and cook the spicy tomato mixture until oil oozes out from the gravy.
• To the cooked tomato base, add fried eggplants and toss them well with the gravy so the fried eggplants are coated with the spicy mixture on all sides
• Gently sprinkle the required amount of salt on the gravy.
• Cook the eggplant in tomato base for about 3 minutes with the lid opened.