Stuffed brinjal (Ennegayi/Engayi)

Posted by Shilpa On May 31, 2006 July 24, 2014 Filed under Side dishes 57 Comments

A few days back, one of my reader, Suma left a comment saying, “Just one request..can you post recipe of brinjal curry dharwad style if possible, i tasted it back in India & it was mouth watering!!”. So here I am with this delicious dish.

I have seen ‘N’ number of ways of making ennegayi. I have atleast 4-5 recipes of this dish. But I thought the best way to have the authentic recipe would be to ask any Lingayat friends, because they are the experts in making this dish. This recipe is from my friend Smitha’s mother. I had collected it 1 year back. On Suma’s request, I prepared it again and as always, I fell in love with it.

Ingredients:
7 small round eggplants(brinjals)
1/2 cup onion
1/2 tea spn very thick tamarind extract
1 tea spn jaggery
1 tea spn chopped garlic
1/2 cup fresh/frozen coconut
1/2 cup ground nuts(peanuts)
1 tea spn garam masala
4-5 red chillies
1 strand curry leaves
2-3 strands coriander leaves
1 tbl spn oil
Salt

Instead of ground nut(peanut), sesame seeds or gurellu/huchchellu(which is probably available only in India, while searching for this on the net, I got this) can be used.

Method:
Heat 1 tea spn of oil and fry onions till they turn translucent. Now add curry leaves, garlic, peanuts, red chillies and coconut. Fry for some time. Grind this with all other ingredients ( except brinjal and oil) to paste without adding water (if required, add very little water).
Put 4 slits in the brinjal keeping the stems intact. Stuff the ground masala in them.

Heat oil in a non stick pan. Add the brinjals, pour the remaining masala on top and fry for some time. Now add 1/2 cup water and cover the lid.

Cook on a very low flame till brinjals are completely done (it takes around 20-25mins).

Serve hot with Jowar roti/Jolad rotti.

Serves : 3
Preparation time : 40min

57 Comments for “Stuffed brinjal (Ennegayi/Engayi)”

Arjuna

says:

Shilpa,
We prepare this dish too(I inherited it from my in-law’s side). We call it nune vankaya.

sudha vinodh

says:

shilpa i did the same dish today..what a co-incident we call it as Enna Kathrika in tamil..will post it soon..

vineela

says:

Hi Shilpa,
I do make this nunevankaya.pictures are really good.i like the recipe of jowar roti.
Hope to try one day .
Thanks for sharing.
Vineela

menutoday

says:

Hi Shilpa,
I love stuffed brinjal. Good recipe.

Suma

says:

Hey Shilpa,

Thanks a lot for this lovely recipe….i cant wait to make it with jolad rotti.Thanks a ton.

aruna pai

says:

Shilpa…..I made this today and it turned out to be EXCELLENT!!! I never knew curry leaves can add so much to the taste. I liked the spicy, sweet and tangy taste of the gravy. I ate with chappatis as i have never made jolad rotti. Thanks a ton.

chitra parpia

says:

Hello shilpa, thank you for the delightful blog and finallyfound the recipe for the eggplant that is served with j.roti at Yatri Nivas in Bangalore – had it in Jan and LOVED it. Many thanks to your Aayi … too …your muse!

Aarti

says:

Hi Shilpa ,
I have been waiting for this recipe .tell you what the very next day i tried this recipe and it came out awesome ! My husband said its the best ever dharwad style stuffed brinjal dish he tasted so far .I was very happy .
Thanks a ton!

lathabasappa

says:

Hi shilpa , i wanted like this recipe my friend her name smitha she asked me before days i will give now realy i am very happy and trying urs recipes all are coming nicly
thanks alot

Nayak Mayi

says:

Hi Shilpa, tried this today… its delicious…thanks for recipe…i used to be more eager than my dharwad friend to go to yathrinivas…..mainly for this dish…iam glad i can prepare it at home now.

Simi

says:

I tried this yesterday, the sauce was delicious, this is a definite keeper.
Thanks so much

Manisha

says:

Shilpa, thanks for bringing up the issue of images stolen by Yahoo from this very page on Dining Hall. This comes close on the heels of Anita’s image, also used without permission by Yahoo. Both these incidents highlight the need for Yahoo to make more than a hollow apology – they need to look into the content of their portals. It’s littered with copied recipes and stolen images. Thanks again!

Padmini

says:

Thanks Shilpa for this recipe. Everyone in my family enjoyed this recipe. It is very easy and very less time consuming process.

Thanks once Again.
Padmini

Vimala

says:

Hi Shilpa,
Thanks a ton. I was waiting for this recipe for quite sometime. Generally in B’lore we used to have this with Jolada rotti in kamat Yatrinivas. Thanks a ton.

Thanks,
Vimala

Dhananjay Pai

says:

thanx shilpa,

your blog is really wonderful !!good service to the konkani community and to others too 🙂

Kaveri

says:

Awesome recipe… reminded me of my mom. Just made it and it tastes awesome 🙂

Rajeshwari

says:

Excellent

Latha

says:

Hi Shilpa,

I made it y’day and it was absolutely heavenly:) I always stay away from peanuts based gravies but this one with onion and tomatoes was well balanced. I’ll make it often! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

shruthi

says:

hi shilpa,
i really love cooking just like you and i frequently visit this website…the stuffed brinjal recipe you mentioned here is general way of doing stuffed brinjal..But in authentic north kanara restaurants i have come across this “ennegayi”which is green in colour and its awesome to taste.Also instead of brinjal they even add ridge gourd or capsicum.i am still searching for that “ennegaayi” recipe.If you do know that recipe ,please put it on this website…if i get it,i will surely post it:)

rekha

says:

I made this yesterday. Its good.
Thanks Shilpa.

mangala

says:

Very nice..tried it out it came out very well thnq!

Snigdha

says:

HI
Yesterday I tried this dish and it was really delicious. Instead if peanut i used almonds, thats what i had at home.
thanks for sharing this great recipe

Mrs Vijaya.J

says:

Hi,

Thanks for the receipe. I have one other way of making the stuffed brinjal in few minutes.

Chopped onions, Amchure powder 3 or four pinch, redchillies and tava heated groundnut powder salt and 1/2 table spoon oil mix all and stuff. and fry as above.
granish with coriander leaves

suchitha

says:

yammy

devi

says:

hi….I tried tis…jus exactly without any change..i didnt have jaggery…that alone i missed….It never became paste after..30 mins..:((.Not sure..wat went wrong….and the gravy was uncooked..,,Is it because the peanuts i used were raw peanuts…??

Shilpa: Sorry, I did not understand the question. Do you mean after grinding it did not become paste or the paste did not become dry after frying? May be cooking it for a longer time might have made it thick.

devi

says:

The problem was after cooking for 25 mins…it was still raw and it didnt becum as shown in the picture…the brinjal became over cooked…and the gravy tasted raw and bitter…I took raw peanuts initially for frying..and whne i put the fried ingredients in the mixer,the groundnuts were still raw .they were not roasted peanuts.is that the reason why?

sheila

says:

I was searching for this recipe. Thanks for posting.

sandhya

says:

hi shilpa,
Thanks for the eenghayi recipe.infact iam looking for this recipe from quite a few days. once i went to my friends house who is married to Belguam’s lingayat.There my friend’s MIL prepared this and it was delicious.but instead of brinjal they used ridge gourd.i even collected recipe from her but i cud nt remeber tat.Even my husband like this lot.so iam very happy to find this recipe. i will try this and also thanks for sharing.

sandhya

says:

shilpa,
Thanks for the eenghayi recipe.infact iam looking for this recipe from quite a few days. once i went to my friends house who is married to Belguam’s lingayat.There my friend’s MIL prepared this and it was delicious.but instead of brinjal they used ridge gourd.i even collected recipe from her but i cud nt remeber tat.Even my husband like this lot.so iam very happy to find this recipe. i will try this and also thanks for sharing.

Payal

says:

Thanks a lot. This is the perfect stuffed brinjal recipe. I tried it last week, and it was the best dish ever!

I like the quality and variety of recipes on this web-site. So far, I have not come across any recipe that does not live up to expectations.

Way to go!

Girija

says:

The recipes in your site are really appealing and fool proof. Some of them I have copied and saved and refer to them while cooking. But the pictures (photos ) are not being copied along with the text. When I cook the recipe I want to compare/refer the presentation to see how it turned out to look at. Can you tell me how to copy the photo along with the text? Thanks

Shilpa: We have tried to avoid copying of pictures because of the a lot of plagiarism going on these days. If you need to check the pictures, you can always check the online version.

Pritam

says:

Hi,

I tried this yesterday and turned out to be so so good!!! Truely appreciate this recipe!!!

Suman

says:

Thank you so much for this receipe. Its very easy receipe and the stuffed brinjal tastes amazing. Thanks again.

Varsha

says:

Hi.. I liked this recipe. Never enjoyed eating brinjals as much before. I shall definitely save this recipe and make this again .. Thanks for sharing ..

Meena

says:

I have been browsing through your website now for over a year. Liked what I saw and even used some of the recipes in my cooking. Over the weekend I was desperately looking for a brinjal recipe, and your ennagayi recipe reminded me of what my dharwad friend used to make,so I decided to use this recipe.Kudos to you and this website, I had 5 meat eaters wallop the brinjal leaving none for me. Thankyou for this.

shikhs

says:

Hi Shipa,
I was looking for this receipe since long time.now since i got it i am going to try out this recipe today.
And this is the first time i am gonna try a recipe which is listed in website.
🙂 thank u…

MB

says:

Wow, definitely mouth watery, mulugai ennagai is an amazing dish, Let me try this out

soumya

says:

i tried the stuffed brinjal recipe and it really came out very well. the best thing about this recipe is it is very easy and takes very less time to make.being a working mother i am always on the look out for such quick and tasty dishes.

VANDANA

says:

IT was awesome….. i wanted tjis recepie so badly

Pradeep

says:

I was hungry at 10 pm and wanted to have stuffed brinjal curry badly. And obviously all Indian restaurants are closed. After a few clicks I land on your page and after about 45 mins I was tasting a very delicious curry. I think the garlic and peanuts made the difference ! Thank you ! One other short-cut I used – after slitting the brinjal, I microwaved them (with a little water) for 7 minutes. That reduced the total cooking time. Did I say I was hungry 🙂

Thanks, Pradeep
Bellevue, WA

manadhii

says:

Hi Shilpa…
This is Manadhii…i tried the stuffed brinjal recipe and it really came out very well. the best thing about this recipe is it is very easy and takes very less time to make.being a working mother i am always on the look out for such quick and tasty dishes….www.manadhi.com

Denise

says:

Wow. http://www.aayisreipes.com is my favorite site.

Ashwini

says:

Shilpa, I tried out this recipe today. It was excellent. Does it have to be dry only or can it have a bit of watery gravy?

Shilpa

says:

Prepare a little more stuffing and add it along with stuffed brinjals to make more gravy.

Shilpa

says:

Some of it does fall out. Try to stuff it as tightly as possible.

Ashwini

says:

Also, all the masala did not stay in the brinjals? Though, it tasted very good.How can i make it stay?

muggulu

says:

hi This is muggulu..I liked this recipe. Never enjoyed eating brinjals as much before. I shall definitely save this recipe and make this again .. Thanks for sharing ..http//:www.kolamdesigns.com

Nathasha

says:

I tried this recipe today, it is excellent recipe. Thanks for publishing this recipe.

Roopa

says:

AWESOME RECIPE!!! Landed on this page as was searching for something different with eggplant. It came out REAL well.. Thanks a bunch!

kamath

says:

Shilpa, thanks a lot for the recipe..it turned out awesome..and had showers of compliments from my family 🙂

Resh

says:

Fantastic Shilpa..thanks alot for this tasty recipe…..just made it and cannot wait to eat it

Priya

says:

Hi Shilpa, I tried this Ennegai today and it came out to
Be a great hit.. My husband was very happy with the taste.
Recipe was very straight n simple. Thanks so much ..
Am looking forward to try your other recipes.