Saturday, August 8, 2009

Exotica Hamburg la Eggplant dé Soufflé mit Potato gratin





Well…Friends today I am going to explain how a marvelous vegetarian dish was recently made at my state of the art Italian err German kitchen…The Brinjal dish which was made with exquisite care and fineness will surely make any vegetarian go green with happiness for a change…It might look similar to Baingan ka Barthavu and yet taste different.. For my English speaking readers from Europe, Asia-Pacific and Americas…Baingan ka Barthavu is a famous Indian dish roughly translated as ‘The Husband of the Baingan’…Legend as is the name comes during a swayamvar ceremony in 1632 BC a lady from Lucknow called Baingan Sawant told the audience who had to come to attend the show that she would marry a Brinjal rather than the idiots who had come to attend the contest…The news spread like wildfire was a popular tweet those days and it became a part of folklore to make fun of men who were voted out of swayamvar contest those days…

In streets of Lucknow, ladies used to pass snide comments…

“Look there goes a wannabe Baingan ka Barthavu” …hihihi…


The dish I am going to explain has been christened as “Exotica Hamburg la Eggplant dé Soufflé mit Potato gratin” or in other words Brinjal curry.

Brinjal is one veggie like Capsicum which has different names in different parts of the world…Some call it eggplant though scientist have proved that the brinjal is pure vegetarian and has no egg yolk in it…and other like my dad might call it Solanum melongena after all the biologist in him never gives away… Infact given a chance he would go to the palayam market and teach all the vegetable vendors out there that its not pavakka or padavalanga, but rather Momordica charantia and Trichosanthes cucumerina ……. Its only due to the blessings of Velankanni mathaavu that he has not attempted to do the same so far…And it is no solace that the merchants in palayam market are fine exponents of malayalam literature which when spoken with a good tenor and passion can be lethal…Infact the Martyrs column nearby was built in honour of people who tried bargaining with fish sellers inside the market several decades ago.

The Brinjal or rather the eggplants which I get here are much bigger than the ones we get in India...
What appeals me most about brinjal is its super-utility ….It can be fried…it can be baked...it can be smashed…it can be made as a curry…it can be used for juggling….

Btw an interesting info for readers which I got in wiki….

“On consuming 9 kilos of brinjal you take as much nicotine in your body as in one cigarette…”

Quite interesting info isn’t… I have been trying very hard to spread this news to unsuspecting people…;-P

I like making Brinjal curry mainly coz it’s easy to cut into small pieces and don’t require any peeling…Secondly Brinjal curry goes well with rice and curd and is a dish to prepare when I am too lazy to prepare something non-vegetarian…I have decided to make a movie sometime in the future considering the deep respect I have for it….tentatively titled.. “There’s something about Brinjal”

Readers would be informed shortly about the release date of the movie as negotiations are on going with the actors…The lead actors are apparently having a busy calendar and I have myself pitched into the negotiation table…Let us hope for the best!!

Anyways…;-D
I followed the recipe as told by the most famous chef in youtube…Though I did my own additions like adding potatoes and adding garam masala to make it a tad spicier…The curry turned out really good and it’s rare that for a veg dish we are left wanting for more…this was an exception…

Aaah...before ending the post I couldn’t resist sharing the pic of a fish curry made recently…it turned out nice and I missed some kappa and kallu to go with it! :-(


24 comments:

Anonymous said...

Aaha,i was in search of one Mathew whom i know...since you are at Hamburg,you might have seen him I guess..Ho,can you help me there ? Last news I heard was about him planning to start a chain of thattukadas on the streets of hamburg..he is terribly been inspired by Pachakam.com and Youtobe..The one interesting discount he offers is to share the story of each recipe he and his chefs cook there..!! Interesting..isnt it ? kindly plz keep this in mind and acknowldge me if ever you happen to see him..

lol mathew..baigan ka bharthavu is called vazhuthangayude bharthavu in our language,ie,Malayalam.I would like to offer all my help for the movie release as am a big fan of vazhuthana too !!

On the martyr square near Konnimara market,lol and lol..even i am a part of that..can you believe ?

ennalum aa meen curry kalakki ketto..athu swayam kruthamaanenkil
athinte recipe kodukkarunnu.alla,youtobe aayalum..kashtam..kothikkunnu !!

Anonymous said...

Ur fish curry luks yummm......i could almost smell the kodumpuli in it.....btw aubergiene au gratin hppns to be my fav....
u didnt post the recipe though :(

thomas said...

a Eggplant dé Soufflé mit Potato gratin enthonne? Manushyanu manasilaakunna bhaashayil parayanam; allaathe koree theengayum maangayum itte aviyal undaakkiyitte German delicacy aanennu paranju nammale vadi aakkaan nookenda. :P

silverine said...

Its only due to the blessings of Velankanni mathaavu that he has not attempted to do the same so far"...and the rest of the para was simply ROTFL matter! :))

Divz said...

hoooooo...oru vazhuthangakku ithreyum aarbhadamo!!
i liked the way u wrote the versitality part of brinjals..esp the juggling idea...ha ha ha
and btw whens that fish curry recipe coming??

Mishmash ! said...

veettilrikkunna appanem veruthe vidilla :P ennalum that was the funniest part of ur post ;)

Hope u already got Ben Irinjalakkuda's calendar blocked !

mathew said...

@Ann
phew..that was one comment!!:-)
yeah..yeah..just happened to meet a person matching your description...whatay coincedence..;-P

vazhuthangayude bharthavu..hehe..will make a movie title too..

meen curry was the usual kodampuli itta meen curry style..my recipe almost matches the recipe here..http://www.mariasmenu.com/spicy/meen-vevichathu-fish-currykottayam-style

@Anonymous
thank you..i didnt post the recipe coz i followed just like the way mentioned in youtube..;-)

@thomas
ROTFL!!

uh..satyam aayittum ithinte perru inganeyaa..;-D
please allow me keep it as sophisticated as possible..chumma brinjal curry ekke is too simple..

@Anju
gracias madam..;-P

@Divs
aah..pinee verrum vazhuthenagyoo..how dare!!;-P

like i said the fish curry was the standard kottayam fare..like the one here..http://www.mariasmenu.com/spicy/meen-vevichathu-fish-currykottayam-style

Divs said...

that baingan n potato dish looks yumm..

n husband of the baingan!!! ye gods! :P

Pooja said...

Nice to learn the real story behind the name! Bainganude bharthavu!! The curry looks delicious! Pinne adipoli meen curry! Kanditte vayil vellam varunnu :) Btw..athu neymeen aano?!

Sig said...

Baingan ka Bharthavu???? LOL, that's the funniest thing I've heard in a while.. thanks for the laughs :)

mathew said...

@Mishmash
hehe...appa ithu vaychaal i cannot imagine.. ;-D
Pinee if Ben Irinjalakuda is busy I ll pitch it..;-P

@Divs
thank you..;-P
yeah everything has a history behind it..

@Pooja
oh...see am such a storehouse of information..;-P

the fish was salmon..thats one which seems closes to neymeen here..:-)

@Sig
glad to share a laugh.:-D
and hey the curry is good too..:-P

Hb said...

Hilarious!
“On consuming 9 kilos of brinjal you take as much nicotine in your body as in one cigarette…”
how many cigarettes its been already?:P

Sakshi said...

Wonly you can write History of a humble vegetable or moru like this. Was ROFling throughout the post. learned quiet a lot from just this one post. Ahh the Hamburg babe in that bowl is looking great.

Pramod Abraham said...

There is something abt the Brinjal!
Did you happen to eat that and write this post!!
Baingan ka Bharthavu.. OMG !! You rock man.. nice link to Sawant. Possibly this can become part of the swamyar folklore. hahaha

Indrani said...

Bharta becomes bhartavu and the other way round too... if the dish is not prepared fast, right? ;)

Enjoyed the post. I was hilarious! :D

Maddy said...

mathew - you come up with some of the most outlandish (stated in a good way) dishes!! and that one about kumarakom diaz was stupendous...but nothing to beat the innocent demure and simple vazhuthininga mezhukku peratti

CK said...

Oh my God!!!! Mathew!!!!!! Whatta post, mere dost!!! :P

So, it seems somebody is definitely missing Rakhi Sawant show.

Don't worry, she is definitely going to come back with Swayamwar series 2,3,4 and on and on.....

:) Awesome story about Baigan! For a moment, I truly thought that's a true story. :P

Nanditha Prabhu said...

I was enlightened on the baigan ka bharthavu story :)....
Paavam ... you won't even leave your dad alone ... !
thank you for posting something vegetarian ... :) finally ...

lan said...

the name flew past and over my head but the presentation is nice and yum.
if you made up the name then the imagination is awesome! interesting blog and will be back.

Kaya said...

Hi Mathew...second time here..you have a nice blog..I like your style of writing..will be back

Bharathy said...

Dil mange Moru kazhinjappo Bhaingan ka Bharthavu... LOL.. :)..:D!...

mathew said...

@My Experiments with Cooking
LOL!! i hope not too many..

@Sakshi
thanks a lot buddy!!:-)

@Pramod
hehe..when i eat food i dedicate myself to it..there is no wavering of concentration ;-D

@Indrani
lol!!! yeah!!;-D

@Maddy
hehe..but i differ on this one..brinjal is one veggie i relish more the non-kerala style...but others have no gombatition..;-D

@The Traveller
LOL!! am glad i was not in India that time of they year..hehe

dont scary me with next parts..

@Nanditha
hehehe..yeah i know am breakin conventions..am already being criticised by our cult of non-veggies..

@lan
hehe..ofcoz there is no such dish like that...;-P
thanks for visitin the blog..

@Kaya
thank you..and glad to know you enjoyed it!

@Sophie
thank you..a friend of mine makes a super prepration of this curry..will post the recipe sometime..

@Bharathy
:-)
what to do...hehe..

Reflections said...

Had a good laugh at baigan ka bharthavu & its flashback.
The fish curry looks really good;-))!!!

I'm feeling generous today so here's my famous & easy peasy brinjal fry....
Cut brinjal in round thin [but not so thin] slices & smear ur fish fry masala on it. Fry it.
Voila...the tastiest side fish ooops I meant side dish in minutes;-D!!

xandra said...

Wow.. that looks lovely A great enlightment!!
Nice to be here....