Vangi bath recipe with homemade vangi bath powder. Vangi bath is a popular rice dish from Karnataka cuisine. The term vangi translates to brinjals or egg plant and bhath means cooking together. Vangi bath is a flavorful dish made with brinjals, spice powder, spices & herbs. It is very easy to make & barely takes 10 to 15 mins if you have the cooked white rice ready.
Vangi bath is very popular among the vegetarian community and is made without onion & garlic. Generally it is made with green young brinjals however you can use whatever you have in hand.
To make vangi bath, first brinjals are sauteed in tempering spices and then soft cooked. Then seasoned with spice powder called as vangi bath powder. Lastly it is finished off by mixing it with precooked rice.
There are many brands selling ready vangi bath powder. I have only tried using MTR which is well known for spice powders in the market.
However my today’s recipe is along with the homemade vangi bath powder which can be prepared ahead and refrigerated for few months.
There are numerous ways to make vangi bath. This recipe comes from our Hassan based chef, who used to cook for us during our stay in Bangalore. I have tasted other versions too and but love this version as it is flavorful, delicious and hot.
The vangi bath powder tastes almost like the MTR powder. But MTR doesn’t use channa dal, which I use since I feel it gives an extra flavor. I usually make this when I have few brinjals left and they are not enough to make any side dish.
How to make vangi bath powder
Skip this section if using ready made powder.
1. Dry roast coriander seeds until aromatic. Transfer to a plate.
2. Fry the dals until half done.
3. Then add red chilies and roast until the lentils turn golden.
4. Next put in the cloves, cinnamon, methi and cumin. Roast for 2 mins until the methi seeds turn fragrant. Switch off the stove. You can skip methi seeds but they add aroma to the powder.
5. Cool the ingredients and add to a blender jar.
6. Make a fine powder.
This powder can be used for 2 to 2.5 cups raw rice that serves 4 to 5 people. If you are making only 2 servings, you can scale down the ingredients for the powder.
Making rice
1. Wash and cook rice al dente in the usual way.
2. Rice must be grainy and not mushy or sticky. Cool completely.
How to make vangi bath
1. Wash and cut brinjals. Next add them to a bowl of slightly salted water. Set this aside.
2. Next heat oil in a wide heavy bottom pan. Add mustard, cumin, peanuts, chana dal and urad dal. Fry until they turn golden. I went ahead using cumin, bay leaf and cardamoms.
3. Using onions is optional. Add green chili and onions. Then fry till they turn translucent.
4. Transfer brinjals and green peas. Then sprinkle salt. Fry for 2 to 3 mins.
5. Cover and cook till the brinjals are done completely.
6.Add the spice powder.
How to make brinjal rice or vangi bath
7. Mix well. Fry the entire mixture till you get a nice aroma.
8. If you like slightly moist rice, you can sprinkle 2 tbsp water. Then saute for 2 minutes. The mixture turns moist. This step is optional.
9. Next add rice and lemon juice as well. I also prefer a bit of ghee or oil. Mix well. Adjust salt as needed.
Garnish brinjal rice with coriander leaves.
Serve vangi bath with papad and raita.
Tips to make vangi bath
- Usually short grain rice – sona masuri is used to make vangi bath. However you can use any variety of rice you have in hand. When I made this rice I did not have sona masuri so I made with basmati rice.
- I have used purple brinjals but actually green brinjals are used to make this dish. So choose whatever you have in hand.
- The key to flavorful dish is the spice powder. So you can either make the powder from my recipe card below or use store bought powder.
- Vangi bath served in karnataka tiffin centers has peanuts & coconut. In some regions, I have seen green peas are used in place of peanuts. So feel free to use what ever you like. You can skip coconut if you do not have.
You may also like these Rice recipes and Brinjal recipes.
More Karnataka Recipes
Tomato bath
Bise bele bath
Akki roti
Nippattu
Recipe Card
Vangi Bath With Homemade Powder
For best results follow the step-by-step photos above the recipe card
Ingredients (US cup = 240ml )
Ingredients to make vangi bath
- 2 cups raw rice or uncooked rice
- 3 tbsp Oil or as needed
- 1 small onion thinly sliced (optional)
- 1 green chili slit or red chili
- 250 grams brinjals or baingan or eggplant (green or purple)
- ¼ cup peanuts or ½ cup green peas
- Lemon juice or 1 tbsp tamarind paste, as needed
- Salt to taste
for tempering
- 1 sprig curry leaves or 1 bay leaf
- ½ tsp mustard seeds or 3 green cardamoms
- ½ tsp cumin or jeera (optional)
- 1 tbsp chana dal (optional)
- ½ tbsp urad dal (optional)
for vangi bath powder or use any ready made powder
- 4 to 5 red chilies
- 2 tbsp Coriander seeds or daniya
- 1 tbsp channa dal or bengal gram
- ½ tbsp urad dal or skinned black gram
- 1 tsp cumin or jeera
- ¼ to ½ tsp methi seeds or fenugreek seeds (optional)
- 4 cloves or laung
- 1 small cinnamon stick or dalchini
- 1 tbsp Dry coconut or copra (optional, adds flavor and taste)
Instructions
Cooking rice
- Add rice to a pot or cooker. Wash it well at least thrice and pour 4 cups water.
- Cover and pressure cook for 2 whistles. If using basmati rice then just cook for 1 whistle. (refer notes for details)
- Do not make the rice mushy. Fluff up the rice and cool this completely.
- If using tamarind rinse and soak it in little water until soft.
- I prefer lemon juice over tamarind so I skip this step.
Making vangi bath powder – Skip if you have powder ready
- Dry roast coriander seeds until crunchy and aromatic. Transfer them to a plate.
- Next roast chana dal and urad dal until half done. Then add the red chilies and fry until the dal turns golden & aromatic.
- Lastly add methi, cumin, cloves, and cinnamon. Saute till the methi seeds turn aromatic.
- Cool all these completely. Powder them finely in a mixer or blender.
- Set aside the vangi bath powder.
tempering
- Add ¼ tsp salt to a bowl of water. Set this salted water aside.
- Wash brinjals very well and chop off the crowns. Then chop or slice them vertically.
- Keep them in salted water until used to prevent discoloring.
- Pour oil to a hot pan. Add in mustard, cumin, chana dal, urad dal & peanuts.
- Fry them until peanuts turn golden. OR Alternately you can use bay leaf, cardamoms & cumin.
- Fry green chilies and onions (optional) till they turn golden or transparent.
How to make vangi bath
- Add chopped brinjal, green peas if using and sprinkle salt, turmeric. Fry them for 2 to 3 minutes stirring often.
- Cook covered on a low to medium heat until the brinjals are soft & fork tender.
- If using tamarind add it now. I do not use tamarind.
- Time to add in the vangi bath powder and fry till it begins to smell good.
- You can sprinkle 1 to 2 tbsp water to make the mixture moist if it is too dry. This is optional.
- Switch off the heat, add the cooled rice and squeeze in some lemon juice.
- Make sure the rice is cooled completely before adding it to the vangi mixture.
- Mix up everything well. Taste it & then add more salt and lemon juice if needed.
- Serve vangi bath hot or cold with some papads and curd.
Notes
- Usually sona masuri rice is used. However you can use any rice. I have used basmati rice. Just make sure you use water just as needed to cook the rice al dente. Rice should not be mushy.
- If using Mtr powder, please use as needed. The spice levels in the mtr pack differs from country to country.
- You can choose any variety of brinjal – purple or green. But tender brinjal will taste better.
- You can halve the recipe and make 2 servings.
Alternative quantities provided in the recipe card are for 1x only, original recipe.
For best results follow my detailed step-by-step photo instructions and tips above the recipe card.
NUTRITION INFO (estimation only)
© Swasthi’s Recipes
Delicious
Thank you
Made vangi bath for the first time, made spice powder as per the recipe here. I am not a great fan of brinjal curries but liked the vangi bath. I always refer your posts for rice items for recipe and measurements and they always turn out tasty. Thank you very much Swasthi garu.
Hello Mahathi
Glad to know! Thank you!
Brilliant recipe and amazing to taste. Tried at home. And everyone loved it!
You are my go to for any recipe or variations, if needed.
All the best keep cooking!!
Hi Aradhana
So glad to know! Thank you so much!
🙂
I love your recepie!! Not only this , the other recipiecies you have posted are also awesome…I follow the proportion exactly what you mention and the outcome is fantastic!! Thank you!
Welcome JC
So happy to know! Thank you!
🙂
Best recipe very different and delicious, thankyou so much !
Welcome Nidhi
Glad you like them! Thank you so much!
Hi, I have been following ur recipes for indian foods, i must say, they helped me a lot.
I have a query about the vangi bath powder., Whats the diff between vangi bath powder and bisibillah bath power???
Hi
Glad to know
The spices used are different. You can find the recipe for bisi bele bath here.
Thank u swasthi for one more tasty recipe. I used to make vangi bhat using goda masala. But today I made it following ur recipe and using using ur recipe of vangi bhat powder. It turned out super delicious ?
Can we use goda masala instead of vanghi masala?
Yes you can use.
I have tried vangibath it was very delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Welcome Satyavati
Glad to know it turned out good.
Hi Swasthi
Once again I must thank you for this amazing receipe…I just loved making it and my family just loved gobbling it all up. This time I followed the ingredients especially in making the powder. And it’s turned soooooo delicious…I just vamped it a little by adding a few fried potatoes bcoz i had less quantity of brinjal. Thanks Swasthi…you r super….
Hi Nita
You are welcome! Glad your family loved it. Nice idea of adding potatoes. Thank you!
Today I tried your vangi bath in a jiffy, with my friends turned out just saying ‘wA’. They asked for recipe, I said follow SWASTHI
Hello Mahesh Kamat,
Thanks a lot! Glad you all liked it.
Hi Swashti:
I liked the idea of making your own Vangi Bhath Powder,
But your recipe for the powder is a bit confusing : Dania is dry roasted. Right ?
But then you say ” FRY” the Dhals ! do you mean with some oil ?? Frying means using oil. If so , please mention it clearly.
You also use the words Fry and Roast inter changeably in the text.
If we need to use oil, please say so clearly and say how much.
Note : I do not notice the presence of Oil in any of the beautiful photos you have posted !
In the store bought MTR powder we do not seem to notice Oil, It looks pretty dry.
If you use oil to roast to prepare the spice powder , it could go rancid over time. I would not keep the oil-roasted powder in the fridge for more than a week at best.
And it is messy. too!
Hi Rama,
Yes all the ingredients are dry roasted here. I always dry roast the ingredients and lentils while making any spice powders. This not only increases the shelf life but also helps to make a fine powder in mixer. Ingredients roasted in oil often do not become fine powder. I use the terms roast and fry interchangeably. Hope you like the powder.
🙂
This is the first time I’ve made any kind of rice and it turned out so good.. Everybody loved it.. It was really amazing.. So glad to have found your website
Hi Cleta D’souza,
Thank you so much! Glad you liked the rice. Hope you enjoy more recipes from here!
🙂
I’d never tried vangi bath before but decided to make it today. Used tamarind instead of lemon juice, didn’t add the chana dal (as I did not have it) and added a bit of hing while frying. It was amazing. Thank you so much!
Welcome B
Glad you liked it. Thank you!
I tried your vangi bath recipe. Simply superb and the vangi bath from MTR comes no where close to yours. I used green vangi and this turned out amazing. Thank you
Welcome Lalitha
Thank you so much for trying. Yes actually vangi bath is made with green brinjals. I am not accessible to them so I use the regular one.
Today I made this vaangi bhaat the first time. It was delicious. I tweaked it a little bcoz I didn’t have lemon or tamarind. But has readymade date tamarind chutney. I added that along with pav bhaji masala instead of vangi bhaat masala. My entire family slurped it all up. And they said it was the best thing ever …thanks so much
Hi Nita,
You are welcome. Thank you so much for sharing the pictures. Turned out yummy! Very glad you liked the recipes.
🙂
I made for my wife and kids to surprise them. They loved it. Even our 14 months boy loved it. Thank you so much! You’re blessed with magical hands.
Wow! great! You are welcome.
Happy all of you loved it. Thanks a lot.
🙂
I tried it first time and turned to be delicious ? thank you very much ??
You are welcome!
VERy very tasty recipe a must try . Thank you so much swathi
Welcome Chella
Today I prepared Vangi bath and it turned out very delicious. Whenever I prepare Vangi bath ,I tend to use tamarind paste. But today I used lemon instead. And I liked the flavours of Vangi bath powder. Loved the combination of peas and onions to it. I am sticking to this recipe from now on ?. Thank you so much for sharing such a delicious recipe.
Welcome Sk
Thanks for trying & the comment too. Yes lemon juice makes vangi bath taste good.
🙂
Yummy
kids hated but i loved
Hi Siri,
Yes you can expect that from kids. Most kids don’t like brinjal even mine don’t.
🙂
these look like just the kind of foods I would like make, however your organization of the recipe needs help. Please group all ingredients followed by the instruction for each element, as a copy and paste doesn’t get the job done. I don’t see where the “spices for seasonings” go. I’ve made Indian recipes many times and can probably figure this out but really just want to put the whole thing into a word doc and get on with cooking! Thank you for receiving my well intentioned input.
Hi Pamela,
Thank you so much. I will reorganize the ingredients and instructions with appropriate titles.