My aunt loved brinjals. She would not touch any English veggie. Only country veggies with an occasional carrot. That’s it! During her 60’s she developed an acute skin allergy. After many failed treatments, she went for treatment to an Ayurvedic clinic in Kerala and the treatment helped her keep the allergy in control. But the downside was that she had to give up eating brinjals and some other veggies. She found it really difficult to do that. She does sometime cheat and take an extra does of anti-histamine but that’s OK. Simple pleasures of life as we know it. This is her favorite way of eating brinjals and this recipe is such a winner on the lunch table.
Heat sesame oil (gingely oil) in a pressure pan until hot. Add in the fenugreek seeds (vendhayam), mustard seeds, cardamom and cumin seeds. Add in the sliced onions and fry till the onions are soft. Add in the tomatoes and ginger garlic paste. Fry for a couple of minutes.
Add in the red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, jaggery and salt. Add in the garam masala / curry masala powder. I added my home made curry masala powder today. Add in 2 tablespoon of tamarind paste. I use home made tamarind paste which works so well and makes for one chore less everyday. Fry for a minute. Add in the chopped brinjal and half a cup of water.
Cover the pressure pan and cook for two whistles. Remove from heat and wait for the pressure to release naturally.
Take a pan and transfer the brinjal mixture to the pan. Saute for 5-10 minutes to roast and thicken the thokku. When the thokku is thick and oil starts to separate, remove from heat and garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve with rice, idli or chapati.
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kathirikkai thokku, brinjal thokku recipe
Recipe for spicy Kathirikkai thokku, Tamilnadu style spicy brinjal / eggplant thokku recipe.
- Total Time: 25 mins
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoon sesame oil (gingely oil)
- 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 3 cardamom pods
- 2 medium sized onions, sliced
- 2 ripe tomatoes, sliced
- 1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste
- 2 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 2 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon garam masala / curry masala powder.
- 2 tablespoon tamarind paste
- 1 tablespoon jaggery
- 6–7 small brinjal, chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 sprigs coriander leaves, chopped
Instructions
- Heat sesame oil (gingely oil) in a pressure pan until hot. Add in the fenugreek seeds (vendhayam), mustard seeds, cardamom and cumin seeds. Add in the sliced onions and fry till the onions are soft. Add in the tomatoes and ginger garlic paste. Fry for a couple of minutes.
- Add in the red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, salt and jaggery. Add in the garam masala / curry masala powder. Add in 2 tablespoon of tamarind paste. Fry for a minute. Add in the chopped brinjal and half a cup of water.
- Cover the pressure pan and cook for two whistles on medium flame. Remove from heat and wait for the pressure to release naturally.
- Take a pan and transfer the brinjal mixture to the pan. Saute for 5-10 minutes to roast and thicken the thokku. When the thokku is thick and oil starts to separate, remove from heat and garnish with coriander leaves.
Notes
Do not add too much fenugreek seeds. The curry will become bitter.
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Side Dish
- Cuisine: Tamilnadu
Turned out fantastic. Perfect with hot white rice,papadam and yogurt.
Thank you
This came out amazing! I used my fresh crop of eggplant and tomatoes from the garden. It’s funny it tastes a little like caponata which is what I originally planned to do with my batch of eggplants. This is a little sweet, sour and spicy which is what I was looking for. I think this recipe will replace caponata in my repertoire. 🙂
Thank you so much Lucy.
Very nice recipe
Thank you!
My husband likes only this recipe in my preparation
🙂 Thank you
Hello, hope you are doing good! Thank you so much for a such a delicious thokku! My kids hate brinjals, but they loved this. 🙂 Suda suda sadham + nallanei + this thokku = bliss! <3 This is a keeper! And your pavakkai thokku recipe – ultimate! 🙂
Thank you!
I love this recipe! My family does not like brinjal at all but they love this thokku. Started making it frequently. Thank you!
HI Suguna
This is a very nice thokku with brinjal, ppl who hate brinjal will defo not even identify its presence in this dish. I enjoyed savoring the new taste and this is going to be a keeper recipe like several of urs. Thanks for being such a creative mind and for also giving credit to the person for their recipe. So humbling.
Thank you!
How many days this tokku will be nice if it is refrigerated. As we are planning for a three days trip we can have this ?
No. This wont stay good for long trips.
Loved this recipe madam.. can we store this curry for one week..
Hi Kannama,
Hope you’re doing well 🙂
May I know what can I substitute for the tamarind paste?
Hi Suguna
I love to try out your recipes but before I do can you please clarify how much time it takes for a pressure cooker to cook on medium before the first whistle?
My pressure cooker brand in Australia does not whistle.It just works by time and it does not have a valve that pops up.Once you see a steady stream of steam escape from the valve you need to reduce the heat from high to low temperature and then time the cooking.For example I whole chicken takes about 11 minutes on low temperature before you turn off the stove, release the valve and let the pressure escape before opening the cooker .Also for the second whistle does it mean that I just double the time of the first whistle and so on for three and four?
Hope this makes sense.
Thanks
Hi Alan,
I am not very sure about Australian cookers as I have never handled one. Sorry I am not able to help you on this.
Thanks for the recipe. My husband and I liked it very much.. sharing the recipe with mom and Mil too .
Thank you!
I’m new to your site and randomly tried this brinjal curry and okra pulikozhambhu…. Both were awesome , i couldnt believe myself that i could cook this tasty. Thanks much for your awesome recipes suguna. Helps a lot for beginnners.
Thank you so much!
Dear sugu sis.,
Vanakkam..made this for packing lunch. It turned out real good. My husband always likes brinjal as a fried curry as we prepare potato,okra…..But I badly wanted to try this one. So made in a hurry before he could sneak peak into the kitchen. Ah..he came exactly when I was transferring the cut brinjal to the cooker. He was taken aback and asked “are you going to pressure cook the brinjal”.
I kept mum and just served for breakfast itself wit idli…. He had the first morsel and there came the moment…”mmmm. Nallairuke”. So this recipe is a winner! Thanks again deary.
And some brinjals are bitter what we call KAARAL in Tamil esp in brinjal. It’s pure luck to get good brinjals. We can’t find out even while cutting. Soaking in tamarind water MAY help. In summer almost every time I bought ,it was bitter. Season also play a role.
Thank you Andal! True Andal. Brinjal sometimes turnes out like that. I will try your tip.
Hi Suguna,
Was about to try this recipe and then noticed that you’re thickening the mixture in a different pan after you pressure cook it.
Is there any particular reason to do this or can we directly thicken the brinjal thokku after we open the pressure cooker lid?
I’d prefer not having to wash two vessels if I can do it with just one.
Thanks
Sure, you can do that Sudha. Flat pan makes the reduction faster. You can sure reduce in the pressure cooker.
Hi Suguna,
This looks very interesting!! can I make it with the big brinjals (not sure what they call it here, but its the long one rather than the tiny ones we find in India).Meanwhile, I will go hunt for the smaller brinjals!
Sure Saranya. You can do with bigger ones.
Mam how many days we can refirigate this one
Hi dear…
How to avoid bitter taste of brinjal even though all the masala added as per instruction…
The taste of brinjal was bit bitter..
Rajji
Thats strange! may be try with smaller tender brinjals next time!
I am told that once the brinjal seeds acquire a pronounced blackish appearance the brinjal is bound to taste more bitter. Soaking them in mild tamarind water at prep stage often helps tone the bitterness.
Thats nice to know Poornima. Thank You!
Such a yum recipe… made it last week. the entire house was filled with the curry masala flavours and caught the curiosity of everyone at home… What’s cooking? Smells delicious! thanks for sharing a lovely recipe and the story behind the curry powder. evoked memories of my childhood.
Thank you so much. Really glad that you liked the recipe.
How long can we store this?
For a couple of days in the refrigerator.
Namaskaram Suguna…….thanks! Off to my kitchen to try this out. 🙂
Namaskaram Carina. Let me know how it turns out!
hey
your website is so nice, All dishes cooks very easy……….
particularly cooker made cooks so easy and tasty tooo
Thank You Selvi!
Hi Kannamma,
Your blog is tooo gud and story behind each recipe gets hooked me to it. Infact,I have read almost all the recipes…Its very interesting..Suggest you author a book Kannamma…Tried this thokku on a rainy day and it was a block buster hit..
Thank you so much. Me authoring a cookbook? God willing, maybe someday. Thanks a lot.