I never tire of reciting this anecdote. A few years ago, I had a young colleague over for lunch. Amongst other dishes, Hari had made an eggplant curry. When my friend saw this, he declared that he HATED eggplant. And refused to touch it. I felt really bad that I could not serve my friend a ‘total’ meal. The next morning, I told Hari to make this eggplant chutney and carried it to work for lunch. My lunch was always eagerly looked forward to as most of my colleagues were great fans of Hari’s cooking (and still are). I handed over the eggplant chutney to my friend mentioned above. He polished it off – not a morsel remaining. It was only then that I mentioned that the chutney was made of eggplant. I hope he has got over his aversion to eggplant, though it was very mean of me!

Ingredients
200 gms small, round eggplants, cubed
1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp coriander seeds
2-3 dried red chillies
1 tsp cumin seeds
For The Seasoning
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 sprig curry leaves
Method
Heat a medium sized wok
Add the onion and eggplant
Roast for about 10 minutes (sprinkle a little water, if necessary)
Set aside
Heat a small wok
Add cumin seeds
When they begin to splutter, add dried red chillies and coriander seeds
Roast for about 30 seconds
Transfer this to a blender and grind to a fine powder
Now add the roasted eggplant and grind well, adding very little water
Transfer to a serving bowl and mix in salt
Heat the small wok again
Add mustard seeds
When they begin to splutter, add curry leaves
Roast for 10 seconds and add to the ground chutney
Serve hot with idli, dosa or any variations of these
Enjoy!