Guti Vankaya Kura is a stuffed eggplant curry from the Andhra cuisine. The stuffing is made from a mix of desiccated coconut, peanuts and spices, which is ground finely. Small tender brinjals are stuffed with this ground masala and then cooked. A bit of tamarind pulp is added to the gravy for a faint sour taste. This recipe is vegan as well as gluten free.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 20 minutes
  • Cook time: 20 minutes
  • Total time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Andhra

Ingredients

  • 250 grams small purple or green brinjals ((baingan) or 12 to 14 brinjals)
  • ½ teaspoon salt (added to water for soaking brinjals)
  • enough water for soaking brinjals
  • 1 large onion (or ½ cup finely chopped onion)
  • ½ tablespoon ginger garlic paste (or 1 inch ginger + 6 to 7 medium garlic - crushed to a paste)
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
  • ½ teaspoon urad dal
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 sprig curry leaves
  • 2 tablespoon oil
  • ⅔ cup water
  • salt as required
  • 2 to 3 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves
  • ½ tablespoon tamarind
  • ¼ cup warm or hot water
  • ¼ cup peanuts
  • 2 tablespoon desiccated coconut
  • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • ¼ teaspoon methi seeds ((fenugreek seeds))
  • 3 to 4 dry red chilies
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder

Method

preparing tamarind pulp

  1. First soak tamarind in ¼ cup warm or hot water for 15 to 20 minutes.
  2. Then squeeze and extract the soaked tamarind into the water. Keep the tamarind pulp aside.

roasting peanuts, spices and coconut

  1. Heat a small frying pan. Add peanuts and roast them on a low to medium flame, with frequent stirrings.
  2. The peanuts have to be roasted well and should not have even a slight rawness in them. Remove the peanuts and keep aside.
  3. To the same pan, add 1 tbsp coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and 1/4 tsp methi seeds. Skip methi seeds if you do not have them.
  4. Roast these seeds too till they become fragrant. Take care not to over roast or burn them. Remove and keep aside.
  5. In the same pan, now add 2 tbsp desiccated coconut. You can also use fresh coconut instead of desiccated coconut.
  6. Stir continuously and roast the coconut till light golden. Remove and keep aside.
  7. Add 3 to 4 dry red chilies.
  8. Roast the chilies till the red color changes a shade. You should also get the aroma while roasting them. Once they become aromatic and the color changes, remove and keep aside.

grinding masala

  1. Once cooled, break the red chilies in small pieces and remove the seeds.
  2. Now let the spices cool and then take all of them in a grinder jar.
  3. Add 1/2 tsp turmeric powder.
  4. Now add the tamarind pulp and 3 to 4 tbsp water.
  5. Grind everything to a smooth thick masala. Do grind to a thick paste, otherwise stuffing the brinjals will not be easy.

preparing brinjals

  1. Now rinse and slit each brinjal from the base, keeping the stalks. Soak the brinjals in salted water for 15 to 20 minutes.
  2. Then drain and keep aside. To make the brinjals stand while cooking, just thinly slice a small part from the base.
  3. Later stuff each brinjal very well with the masala paste. Keep aside. Some masala paste will remain. So keep this aside too.

making gutti vankaya kura

  1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a 3 litre pressure cooker. Add 1 tsp mustard seeds and allow them to crackle.
  2. Then add urad dal and cumin seeds.
  3. Saute till the urad dal turns a maroonish red.
  4. Then add finely chopped onions and curry leaves.
  5. Saute till the onions turn translucent.
  6. Now add ginger-garlic paste.
  7. Add the remaining masala paste along with ⅔ cup water. Mix very well.
  8. Now place the stuffed brinjals gently in the cooker.
  9. Sprinkle salt as per taste.
  10. Cover and pressure cook gutti vankaya curry for 5 to 6 minutes.
  11. When the pressure settles down, open the lid. Check the doneness by sliding a knife through a brinjal. If the knife slids easily, then the brinjals are cooked.
  12. If they are not cooked, then add 2 to 3 tablespoons of water and pressure cook gutti vankaya curry for 2 to 3 minutes more or till done.
  13. Garnish with coriander leaves and serve gutti vankaya kura with chapatis or steamed rice.
  14. This curry also goes very well with jowar roti or bajra roti.

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.