BADanekayi Bajji – Brinjal Relish

Badanekaayi Bajji / Brinjal Relish, is the most common and easiest dish that we make at home. It is usually made with the round green brinjals at home. It is called the Gul Badanekaayi. But i dont get that brinjal regularly. I get it when someone comes from my hometown or some Mangalore stores sell them in season. Gul Badanekaayi tastes the best. But i have to make do with the big brinjal that is easily available. Something is better than nothing, right?

Badanekaayi Bajji is a simple quick dish that has a burnt flavour to it. The burnt flavour along with raw onions and crushed green chillies makes it one of the most yummiest and satisfying dish. I feel it should be made in a very crude way and that is when it tastes good. Finesse takes away the flavour from this dish.  In my granny ‘s house till date they cook on firewood. The flavour of the firewood cooked food can not be matched with anything at all. So once all the cooking is done, the fire is put off, and these brinjals are left on the hot coal. The slow burnt brinjals have such authenticity to them.

Ingredients

1 no. – Big purple brinjal
1 no – Small finely chopped onion
1/8th cup – Tamarind paste
1/2 cup – Curd
Salt to taste
Chopped coriander for garnishing
2 to 3 nos -Green chilly

Tempering

1 tbsp – Oil
1/2 tsp – Mustard seeds
1 tsp – Bengal gram

Method
There are 4 methods of cooking the brinjal
1. Smear the Brinjal with some oil. In a 200°C preheated oven roast the brinjal till the brinjal burns on the outer and cooks from inside.
2. Smear the Brinjal with oil, place it directly on the flame till the skin burns and the inside cooks. Keep turning it once in a while to make sure it is burnt well.!

3. If you have a barbeque or a tandoor then oil the brinjal and burn it till it is cooked well inside.

4. Place the whole brinjal in a pressure cooker and cook till it is soft. 

The first two methods gives the dish a burnt smell which doesnt suit some people’s taste palette. In such case you can pressure cook it.

Peel the brinjal and mash it well.To this add chopped onions, tamarind paste ,salt and curds. Mix well.

In a pan roast the green chillies till the skin shrinks. Chop them and crush them in a mortar pestle. Add this to the brinjal mix.

In a pan take oil for tempering, add mustard seeds. Let it crackle, to this add bengal gram. Once the bengal gram turns gold, pour it on the brinjal mix and mix well. Garnish with coriander.

Serve it with rice and ghee or rotis.

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