Kathrikai & Kondakadalai Puli Kootu/Brinjal and Chickpeas tangy dal

Today's recipe is my amma's best. She makes yummy puli kootu and that too in the pressure cooker, everything together and 3 whistles, tada!you have a delicious side to go with rice. Though i make kootu regularly at home, i rarely make puli kootu,(i.e) adding tamarind extract to kootu. No special reason, wonder, why i don't make often. So, when i picked this theme 1 veggie, 3 dishes, i decided to make a puli kootu, like her. I even called amma and asked for the recipe. Though i opted for making it in the open pan, instead of pressure cooker, the taste still was the same.

In this kootu, you can use black-eyed peas instead of chickpeas, and chana dal instead of tuvar dal. The recipe doesn't use any other spice,except the ground masala powder. You can even make big batch of this masala and keep refrigerated, and use it dry curries, will give a nice taste.

Ingredients

1 Big Eggplant/Bharta ka Baingan

1 small tomato, chopped

½ cup Chickpeas, soaked for 8 hours.

¼ cup toor dal/tuvar dal/pigeon peas

A small lemon size tamarind (indian lemon)

Fresh coriander for garnish

Salt to taste

Tempering

1 tablespoon oil

¼ teaspoon mustard seeds

a pinch of hing

a pinch of turmeric

a sprig of curry leaf

To Roast and Grind

1 tablespoon chana dal

1 tablespoon coriander

4 no red chilies (i used long variety)

¼ cup freshly grated coconut

Method

Pressure cook Tuvar dal and Chickpeas until soft. I used two cooker vessels in my pan and pressure cooked both at the same time. While cooking tuvar dal add a pinch of turmeric. While cooking chickpeas, add a pinch of turmeric and ¼ teaspoon of salt. Once done, drain the water from chickpeas and mash the tuvar dal well keep them aside until use.

Soak tamarind in water for 20 minutes and extract around 2.5 cups of tamarind extract. Chop the brinjals into small cubes. Since i used the Big brinjal, i chopped the stem and cut them into thick rounds and cut each rounds into 4 lengthwise and chop them into cubes. Keep them soaked in water until we use.
Heat a pan, dry roast the ingredients given under "Roast and Grind" except coconut. Let it cool a bit, then add coconut and grind it to a fine powder. Keep aside until use.

In the same pan, add oil given under tempering, splutter mustard seeds, add curry leaves, hing and turmeric. Add chopped brinjals and tomato and saute for 2-3 minutes. Now add the tamarind extract to this, add the ground masala powder and salt.

Mix well. Let it boil, then simmer the flame, cover and cook for 10-12 minutes until the brinjal cook and the rawness of the added masala vanishes.

Now add the mashed toor dal/tuvar dal and cooked chickpeas to this. Mix again, Let it cook, uncovered for another 8-10 minutes, until the gravy thickens a bit. It will not be runny, if you follow the water measurements correctly. Do not let it dry completely, or else it will look more like a mash.