Eggplant in Spicy Coconut Sauce / Vaigana Sagle

We get small green eggplants in the Bay Area. It is smaller in size than the gulla we get in Mangalore. I made sagle which is a kind of coconut curry with ground coriander and methi seeds. The curry has a sweetish taste. it goes well with spicy sambhar or rasam. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
7 small thai green eggplants (purple eggplant if the green one is not available)
1/4 cup grated coconut
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
6 methi or fenugreek seeds
1/2 teaspoon jaggery
3-4 roasted red chilies
1/2 teaspoon tamarind concentrate or small piece of tamarind
5 curry leaves
1 teaspoon mustard
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1 teaspoon coconut oil or any other oil
salt for taste

Method
Cut the top of all the eggplants. Cut each eggplants into four pieces. Put half cup water in a pan and cook the eggplants till soft. Meanwhile dry-roast the coriander seeds and fenugreek seeds for 3-5 minutes. Grind the tamarind, grated coconut, fenugreek seeds, coriander seeds and red chilies into a fine paste. Add this masala to the cooked eggplant with jaggery and salt for taste. Get the curry to a boil on medium heat. In a seasoning pan, add oil, mustard seeds and asafoetida. When the mustard seeds splutter, remove from heat and add curry leaves. Add this seasoning to the curry and keep the curry covered for 5 minutes. This will allow all the seasoning flavors to blend with the curry. Serve hot with rice or roti.


Preparation time: 30 minutes
Serves: 2