Eggplant is sautéed and tossed with a south Indian spice mixture and cooked rice. Vangi Bhath is a great rice dish for a quick dinner or as the rice course on a party menu. This dish can be prepped ahead and tossed together before serving.
Serve Vangi Bhath with Cucumber Raita and potato chips or papad.
Vangi Bhath
Ingredients
- 1 Cup rice A medium grain variety preferably, or Basmati
- 4-5 Purple/green long eggplant Long Italian or Indian eggplant preferably
- 2 Tbsp Palyad pudi see recipe or store bought Vangi Bhath powder, Adukale or MTR brand
- 3 Tbsp Vegetable oil
- 8-10 Curry leaves
- 1/2 Tsp Black mustard seeds
- 1/2 Tsp Urad dal
- A pinch Hing
- 2 Tsp Salt to taste
- 2 Tsp Ghee optional
- 10-12 Cashews optional
Instructions
Prep rice
- Cook the rice with 1/2 tsp of salt using your favorite method of cooking rice. When the rice is done cooking, spread the rice in an even layer to cool in a large casserole or sheet pan. This step is essential to make sure you don’t have clumps of rice in the final dish.
Prep eggplant and spice mixture
- While the rice is cooking, prep the eggplant. Trim the stems of the eggplant and cut each one lengthwise into two halves. Then slice each half into 2 or 3 long slices. Line all the slices up and cut them into 1” long pieces. You should now have fat matchsticks of eggplant, each an inch long.
- Making the vaggarnae – gather the mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves and hing before the next step.
- Heat 3 tbsp of vegetable oil in a wide saucepan on medium heat. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the mustard seeds and cover the saucepan while the seeds pop. When the popping is done, lower the fire and add the urad dal.
- Wait for the urad dal to turn golden brown (about a minute) and then add the curry leaves.
- Finally add the hing and give the vaggarnae a quick stir.
- Add the eggplant and stir to combine and coat all the eggplant pieces with the oil. Add 1/2 tsp of salt and stir. Continue to cook the eggplant uncovered on a medium-low fire while stirring occasionally. It is best to avoid stirring the eggplant too much, or they could turn mushy. What you are looking for here is to let the salt draw out the moisture in the eggplant and for the eggplant to cook and caramelize in its own juices.
- Be careful not to overcrowd the pan, or let the eggplant burn. If the eggplant looks like it is steaming rather than sauteing, add another tbsp of oil and stir.
- When the eggplant is almost done, add half the palyad pudi or Vangi Bhath powder and another 1/2 tsp of salt and stir to combine.
- Check the spice and salt in the eggplant mixture and balance by adding more spice powder or salt. You want this mixture to be a little high in salt and spice since you will be adding the rice to it.
Toss the Vangi Bhath
- Once the rice has cooled to room temperature, add the rice to the eggplant mixture and toss gently to coat the rice evenly with the spice mixture. Taste the rice again. If you prefer, you can add more spice powder and salt at this stage to balance the flavors.
- Before serving, heat the Vangi Bhath by tossing the rice gently on the stove. Or heat for 60-90 seconds in the microwave.
- For a little extra goodness and garnish, heat the ghee in a small saucepan or kadai and gently roast the cashews until they are golden brown. Pour the ghee and cashews over the Vangi Bhath before serving. Serve with cucumber raita.
Notes
Look for a variety of eggplant that is not too high in moisture content. I generally avoid the light purple chinese eggplant and large eggplant varieties. I love using them for other preparations, but for this dish, they will become too mushy.
You can make your own palyad pudi or use store bought Vangi Bhath powder from Adukale or MTR brand.
Use a variety of rice that is low in starch. To this end, sushi rice, jasmine rice, etc are not the best choice since the final dish will turn out sticky. I prefer to use Ambe Mohar, Sona Masoori, or Basmati rice for this dish. Regardless of the type of rice you use, do not skip the step to cool the rice in an even layer after it is cooked. By letting the rice cool and release its steam, you will have grains of rice that stay separate in the final dish.
This is a great dish for a party. You can prep the eggplant and spice mixture 1-2 days ahead and just finish up the dish with rice on the day of the party.
Store leftover Vangi Bhath in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.