Tel Begun - Indian Recipes

Tel Begun or Spicy Eggplant Curry is an authentic Bengali vegetarian recipe. It is a very easy to make eggplant curry cooked with lots of mustard oil and some spices and tastes really delicious. It tastes great when you have it with steamed rice.

Image : Tel Begun

Important :

Preparation Time : 10 minutes
Cooking Time : 30 minutes
Total Time : 40 minutes
Serve For : 4

Ingredients :

Eggplant or Begun (2 medium size) /cut into big cubes
Mustard Oil (6-8 tbsp)
Onion (2 medium size) /finely chopped
Tomato (1 big)
Crushed Garlic (1 tbsp)
Green Chilli (2)
Panch Phoron or Bengali Five Spice (1/2 tsp) /for tempering
Cumin Powder (1 tsp)
Coriander Powder (1 tsp)
Turmeric Powder (1 tsp)
Kashmiri Red Chilli Powder (1 tsp)
Salt (to taste)
Sugar (1/2 tsp)
Chopped Coriander Leaves (2 tbsp)
Water (1 cup)

Direction :

Cut the eggplants into big cubes and coat them evenly with some salt and 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder.
Heat enough oil in a pan and fry the eggplant cubes until they become soft from inside and light brown from outside. Drain oil and keep them aside.
In the same oil, add panch phoron and wait for them to splutter.
Then add crushed garlic into the oil and stir for few seconds.
Add the chopped onion immediately after adding garlic. Stir and cook for 3-4 minutes on medium to high flame.
When the onion become caramelized, add chopped tomato and chopped green chilli into the pan and cook them until the tomatoes become soft and tender.
Now add cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, kashmiri red chilli powder and salt into the gravy and cook for 5-7 minutes on low heat until the gravy starts leaving oil from sides.
When the gravy is done, add 1 cup of water, cook for another 5 minutes on high flame.
Meanwhile add some sugar into the gravy.
After the gravy becomes little thicker, add the fried eggplant pieces and sit gently.
Cook for another 5 minutes on low flame without stirring.
Lastly add chopped coriander leaves and give a final stir.
Switch off the flame and serve hot.