Yay! Friday again. Every week I seem to desperately wait for the weekend and Friday is the most happiest. It is another story that the weekend gets over in a blink and before I even know it, it is Monday again. Sigh! Please tell me I am not the only one feeling so 🙂
Enough of my rant and now for the recipe today – Vangi Bath. It is essentially a spiced brinjal rice, an easy one pot meal that can be prepared quickly. Vangi bath is popular in Karnataka and I am sure anyone who doesn’t love brinjals otherwise would love this for a meal. The reason I tell this is wait for it I used to hate brinjals too. And it was my mom’s idea to make this recipe and ever since, I have liked brinjals in this form.
To be very frank, I am not 100% sure if this is an authentic recipe. I know it probably is not. However this is the recipe I have grown up loving and this is how we usually make it at home. Amma used to prepare it quite often for my lunch boxes during college. Sometimes she would add green peas. At times, chickpeas. She also does a version with fresh coriander. This recipe is the base for all her vangi bath recipes. I love chickpeas in rice and used to love picking them up specially while having from my lunch box. If you have the rice and chickpeas cooked, making this would probably take less than half an hour. It can be served as it is or with a side of curd/raita.
In a thick bottomed pan, dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under Vangi Bath Spice Powder until golden brown. Once cooled down, grind along with fresh coconut into a fine powder. Set aside.
Prepare the brinjal by washing and removing the stem. In a pot, fill with water and ½ teaspoon of turmeric and salt. Cut the brinjal into cubes and drop into the water. This would stop the brinjal from oxidizing and having a bitter after taste.
In a nonstick pan, heat oil. Add cumin seeds and as they splutter, add finely chopped onions. As they begin to turn translucent, add ginger garlic paste. Fry for a minute and then add the chopped brinjal cubes. Add turmeric powder.
On a low heat, cook until the brinjals are soft and juicy. Add boiled chickpeas. Add the prepared Vangi Bath Masala, red chilli powder and salt required. Cook for a 3-4 mins on low flame. Switch off the flame. Add this prepared masala to the cooked rice and mix well.
Serve hot with curd/raita.
I used ¾ cup of raw rice and cooked with 2 cups of water in a pressure cooker for getting 2 heaped cups of cooked rice. I pressure cooked my rice and chickpeas with required salt. It is essential that the rice has to be cold for perfect Vangi bath. Else, it would turn gluggy on mixing with the masala. Brinjal can turn bitter on cooking, to avoid it soak the cut brinjal in water mixed with salt and turmeric until required to use. The quantity mentioned for the vangi powder is enough for a single time use. Adjust the powder quantity as per required. The vangi bath powder can be prepared in advance and stored in an airtight container in the fridge. If dry coconut/copra is available, that can be used in the place of fresh coconut. The powder prepared using dry coconut stays good for over two weeks also. As I added lesser number of red chillies, I added ½ teaspoon of red chilli powder in the masala. Chickpeas are optional but give a good texture to the rice.
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