Brinjal curry recipe or vankaya kura – Brinjal also known as aubergine or eggplant is one of the favorite among many. It is a low calorie veggie that has some unique nutrients like iron and minerals. Brinjal is most commonly used in Indian cuisine to make curry, gravy, stir fry and chutney or bharta.
This post shares a simple & easy brinjal curry that can be served with rice or roti, chapati.
Usually brinjal curry is made by stuffing spice mixture and then cooking in a onion tomato gravy. Here are some of stuffed brinjal curry recipes Bharwa baingan
Gutti vankaya kura
Stuffed brinjal stir fry
Bagara baingan
Today’s brinjal curry is a super quick one to make when you do not prefer the roasting and grinding work. It tastes good and you can easily tweak it to suit your taste.
You can also add some potatoes to this to make the brinjal potato curry. I have shared a recipe of this combo here – Aloo Baingan masala
You can also make this to a semi dry curry to go in the tiffin box. I have shared the details below. Make sure you use good tender brinjals.
If you are looking for more ways to include this healthy veggie in your diet, you can check this collection of Brinjal recipes.
More simple curry recipes,
Potato curry
Drumstick curry
Raw banana curry
Bitter gourd curry
Brinjal curry recipe
Brinjal curry recipe | How to make brinjal curry
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
- 250 grams brinjal or eggplant
- 2 tbsp oil
- ¼ tsp mustard
- ¼ tsp cumin or jeera
- 1 sprig curry leaves (skip if you don’t have)
- ¾ cup onions chopped finely (2 medium)
- 1 green chili (chopped or slit)
- 1 large tomato chopped (about ½ cup)
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste or fine chopped garlic
- ¼ to ½ tsp red chili powder (adjust to suit your taste)
- 1/8 tsp turmeric or haldi
- Salt as needed
- ½ to ¾ tsp garam masala (optional)
- 2 tbsp coriander leaves chopped (optional)
How to make the recipe
- To make brinjal curry, first add oil to a pan and heat it. Next add mustard & cumin.
- When they begin to pop, add the curry leaves. Fry for about a minute.
- Then add onions and green chili. Fry until the onions turn golden.
- While the onions fry, wash and cube brinjals.
- Keep them immersed in a bowl of water with ¼ tsp salt. This prevents discoloring.
- When the onions turn golden, add ginger garlic and saute until the raw smell goes off.
- Then add tomatoes and little salt. Fry for 2 mins. Cook covered until the tomatoes turn soft.
- Then add chilli powder, turmeric and garam masala. Saute until the masala leaves oil.
- Drain off the water and add chopped brinjal to the pan. Saute for 2 to 3 mins.
- Pour half cup water. Cover and cook till the brinjals turns soft and tender. If you prefer a dry curry then reduce the water.
- Simmer till the brinjal curry becomes thick.
- For a gravy curry, add more water and simmer a little longer.
- When done the brinjal turns soft, sprinkle coriander leaves.
- Taste and add more salt if needed. Serve brinjal curry with rice, roti.
Video
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
If you are new to cooking, follow my detailed step by step photo instructions for best results.
Preparation for brinjal curry or vankaya kura
1. Chop onions, tomatoes and green chilies. I prefer to deseed the tomatoes for this curry.
2. Wash and cube brinjals. Immerse them in a bowl of water to prevent discoloring. I usually add half a tsp of salt to the water as it prevents the veggie from turning bitter. But if left long, brinjal will absorb the salt. So do it just before using them.
How to make brinjal curry
3. Heat oil in a pot. Add mustard and cumin. When they begin to splutter add curry leaves. Fry for a minute.
4. Then add onions and fry until golden or transparent.
5. Next fry ginger garlic just until a nice aroma comes out.
6. Then add tomatoes and sprinkle salt. Fry for about 2 mins and then cook covered until the tomatoes turn mushy.
7. Add chili powder, garam masala and turmeric.
8. Saute until the raw smell of chili powder goes away.
9. Remove the brinjal cubes from water and add to the pot.
10. Saute them for 3 mins.
11. Pour half cup water. If you prefer a dry brinjal curry then reduce the water and add as and when needed while you cook.
12. Mix and cook covered on a low flame.
13. When the brinjal is cooked, you will notice the skin turns loose or wilted depending on the kind of eggplants used. It turns soft too.
14. Check salt and add more if needed. Sprinkle coriander leaves if you have.
Serve brinjal curry with rice or roti, chapati.
Kiran Tevtiya says
Swasthi, simple to follow and delectable to eat. This was so amazing. My family enjoyed eating this recipe of brinjal for the first time in their life!! Only change was instead of lime juice I put tomatoes. Made our day in this lock down.
swasthi says
Hi Kiran
Glad your family loved it. Thank you so much!
lorraine williams says
THANK YOU! THIS IS A GREAT RECIPE. A REAL KEEPER!
swasthi says
You are welcome!
Thank you
Tulasi V says
It is so yummy.
Had to adjust salt and chilli powder durung eating.
Good in rice and chapati too.
Thanks a lot.
swasthi says
Hi Tulasi
You are welcome! Glad to know
Thank you
Arden says
This turned out amazing! Pre-fried the brinjal, also added some coconut milk to the curry, and the gravy turned a beautiful shade of red. Thanks for the recipe!
swasthi says
You are welcome! Glad to know
Love that you used coconut milk.
thank you
J.Paul says
Hi, the gravy didn’t turn out as thick as ur pic shows. Why do you think so?
swasthi says
Hi Paul,
Some kinds of brinjals are very tender. When slightly overcooked the gravy turns thick as some of the pieces dissolve in the gravy. I used the smaller kind of purple eggplants here.You can just mashup some of the pieces. Hope this helps
Tama says
Lovely curry. It was very easy to make and big on flavors.
swasthi says
Thanks for trying Tama,
Glad you liked it
Sharmila says
The gravy in last pic looks yummy. But not the one which you cooked and took pic of. Why is it so?
swasthi says
Hi Sharmila,
It is the same curry cooked and shown in the first and last picture. They look different because both are shot with different cameras with different lighting source. The last pic was shot with the day light so it looks good.
Brian says
how many cups of chopped brinjals make 250g?
swasthi says
They will come upto 2.5 to 3 cups.
Ashwitha says
I tried a lot of recipes from your blog and 90% of the time it comes our well. Thank you for the recipes ita easy for the beginners and its turns out well
swasthi says
Welcome Ashwitha
Thanks for trying. Glad to know the recipes are useful. 10% whenever your dish doesn’t turn out good please leave a comment I will help you to fix it or at least let you know where you went wrong.
🙂
Cynthia says
Step by step recipe so easy and taste divine full of flavour
swasthi says
Thank you so much
Mounika says
Super and good combination
swasthi says
Thank you Mounika
Zanna says
ahhh finally I got this dish right thanks to your recipe! 🙂 <3
swasthi says
Welcome Zanna