Vangibhath / Rice with eggplant and spices

It is closer to 2 years since I posted the recipe for 'Vangibhath Powder'. Even though I have made this dish so many times since then, I haven't had a chance to make that into a post. Without talking too much, I wanted to tell all of you a big 'Thank You'. This blog crossed the 700000th visitor yesterday. It feels good to know that the hours I put to maintain this is justified when I see so many reading or visiting the blog. So, Thank you for reading what I scribble here.

One Year Back - Strawberry Summer Cake
Two Years Back - Baking from the Book - Cookies Roundup
Ingredients: 
Rice - 2 cups uncooked
Eggplant - 1 large or couple of small ones to give you 2 cups of 1 - 1/2" slices
Bell pepper - 3 sliced to the same size as eggplants (You don't have to use all the colored ones)
Potatoes - 3 small or 1 large sliced similar to the other veggies
Oil - 4 TBSP (you can actually use a lot more than this)
Mustard seeds - 1/2 tsp
Red chillies - 3 broken into pieces
Curry leaves - few
Bengal gram dal / dehusked split chickpeas / chana dal - 1 TBSP
Cashews - 2 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Tamarind paste - 3/4 tsp (Or use half a lime sized tamarind)
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Vangibhath powder - 3 - 4 TBSP as per the desired spice level.
Dry grated coconut / kobbari - 1/4 cup or as per the taste

Method:
Wash and drain rice. Cook it in enough water (usually 1:2 ratio). Fluff with a fork and spread on a plate so the grains are separate. In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add mustard seeds. When they splutter, add red chillies, curry leaves, chana dal / bengal gram dal and cashews. Let the nuts be toasted. Add eggplants and mix. Sprinkle some salt, turmeric and mix again. After a minute or two, add the remaining veggies. Keep stirring frequently to prevent burning and let all the veggies cook, but not to mushy consistency. Add the tamarind paste. If you are using the regular tamarind, soak it in about 1/3 cup of water and extract very thick juice from it and use it. Add vangibhath powder, dry grated coconut/kobbari and mix well. Adjust the salt if necessary and cover with a lid and keep it on very slow flame for 2 - 3 minutes. Turn off the heat and serve warm or at room temperature.

Notes:
You can saute any vegetable and add a kind of cooked grain and use the vangibhath powder to flavor the dish.

Enjoy.

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