Eggplant stuffed with a masala of ground peanuts and spices has always been a delicacy in my Madhya Pradesh family for generations.

I decided to marry it with mustard oil and the ingredients of a South Indian rice and put all of India, gastronomically, on my plate. The experiment worked rather well, because combining different rich regional accents of Indian food is always a successful fusion gambit, because who says sambar powder and garam masala or imli and aamchoor cannot live together in one recipe.

The North-South Vangibath that resulted was one more dish, packed with multiple flavours, many textures and several spices, to add to my collection of comfort food that includes khichdi, dahi rice or thayir sadam, dal-chawal, rasam-rice, dalia upma, sambar-appalam-pickle-rice, pongal, egg macaroni, dahi kadhi-papad-rice.

What is comfort food? It's a term which is often overused these days and by definition it is a meal or food that evokes nostalgia and memories of what was cooked for us in our childhood. To my mind a sandwich or a pakora or a kachori does not make that category since it is not exactly a meal, but if it has sentimental value, it then should.

I also feel we in India have a plethora of comfort foods because we have a plethora of mothers, dadis, nanis, chachis, mausis, chittis, ammas, aunts, mothers in law and even chachas and dadas cooking special unique stuff for us from when we were born that brings on special sepia khaana recollections.

But as people cook less and less, across the world, will there be less Irish stews (David, my daughter's Irish partner's comfort food), steak and kidney pies, chicken soups, roosamanna (my Estonian mother's comfort food of cranberry-flavoured cream of wheat) to comfort us. I wonder: Is our comfort food shrinking?

Serves: 4-5

Ingredients

• 12 small baingans or brinjals or eggplant
• 2-3 tbsp mustard oil
• 3 tbsp ghee
• 20 curry patta or curry leaves
• 2 tsp rai or mustard seeds
• 1 tsp methi or fenugreek seeds
• 1 tsp kalonji seeds
• 2 tsp whole white urad dal or white gram
• ½ tsp hing or asafetida
• 3-4 chillies
• 2 dark green chillies, chopped lengthwise
• 1-2 tbsp jaggery
• 3 tbsp imli or tamarind paste
• Salt, about
• 10 sambar onions, halved
• 2 ½ cups raw rice

Masala stuffing

• 1 tsp kalonji or nigella seeds
• 3 tbsp whole dhania or coriander
• 1 tsp jeera or cumin seeds
• 1 tbsp channa dal or bengal gram
• 2-3 lavang or cloves
• 2 green elaichi or cardamom
• ½ inch-piece dalcheeni or cinnamon
• 5-8 black peppercorns
• 2 tej patta or bay leaves
• 2 tbsp crumbled phool or stone flower
• ¼ cup peanuts
• 5 cashews
• 25 gm grated desiccated coconut, about 4 tbsp
• 1 tsp haldi or turmeric powder
• 1 tsp lal mirchi or red chilly powder
• 1 tsp aamchoor or dried mango powder
• 10 garlic pods
• 1 inch-piece ginger, roughly chopped
• 1 large onion, chopped in chunks
• Salt, about 1½ tsp
• Water

For serving and garnish

• 3-4 tbsp chopped green dhania or coriander or cilantro
• Yoghurt or a chopped onion raita
• Appalams and onion vadams

Method

• Cook the rice and keep aside.

For the masala

• In a large frying pan or tawa over medium to low heat, no oil, first roast the peanuts evenly for 3-4 minutes.
  Then add the jeera, kalonji, phool, tej patta, cloves, cinnamon, elaichi, peppercorns and roast for 2-3 minutes more.
  Now add the sesame seeds, channa dal and cashews and roast for 2-3 minutes more.
  Add the grated coconut, mix and take off heat.
• Let it cool.
  In a mixer, grind the roasted ingredients with the onion, garlic, ginger, salt, haldi, aamchoor, lal mirchi adding a tiny bit of water to make a thick, dryish paste.

For the vangi

• Cut a slit in each eggplant up to the stem but do not cut entirely through.
  Stuff enough of the ground masala into each eggplant.
  If you have masala leftover freeze for future use.
• In a kadhai or large frying pan, heat the mustard oil over medium heat and pop in the stuffed eggplant.
  Fry evenly for 10-15 minutes, flipping frequently, over low to medium heat, till fully cooked.
  Keep aside.

For the bhath

• Heat the ghee in a large kadhai or saucepan over medium heat and add in the rai, urad dal, kalonji, hing.
  Let it begin to crackle and add in the red chillies, green chillies, haldi, sambar onions and curry leaves.
  Fry for a few minutes and add the jaggery and imli paste.
  When the jaggery melts and the mixture begins to bubble add the rice and salt and mix well.
  Then add in the roasted eggplant and lightly toss so the eggplant is mixed uniformly through the rice.
• Garnish with green dhania and serve with yoghurt and appalams.

Zelda's Note: This rice freezes well and will keep for several weeks in the freezer.

The extra masala paste can be used for making a dry stuffed eggplant or bhindi (okra or lady’s finger) dish or a masala rice.

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