Eggplant Chutney South Indian Style

Eggplant Chutney South Indian style  – This aromatic sweet and sour Eggplant Chutney is minimal effort maximum return kind of condiment. It is perfectly fit into my current Breakfast and snack menu.

There are many states in South India and every state has its unique cooking style. But there are some staple blends of spices and herbs that we often experience in South Indian dishes. This recipe is inspired by the taste of South Indian Cuisine, hence the name is Eggplant Chutney South Indian Style.

A budget-friendly condiment from Pantry and Refrigerator

One of the most obvious lessons that took time to sink in is how to budget wisely for the weekly meal plans. Get the most value using what we already have in our pantry and refrigerator in ways that nourish us without making us feel deprived. It’s all about a delicate balance. Anyone can make Eggplant chutney, but not everyone knows to make a tasty eggplant chutney without adding lots of oil. Sometimes taking an extra step helps us in the long run.

Eggplant and Meal Prep!

Meal Prep – this phrase has a different meaning to different people.

• For some people, meal prep means bulk cooking on a particular day for the whole week.
• For other people, it means to do all the prep works. Such as, to cut the veggies, marinate the protein, prepare the spice blend, etc. So that they can put together the fresh meals daily in minimum time and efforts.

Personally I think it’s all about finding a way to balance through Meal prep to nourish our body and hand over the chain of food wisdom to our future generation. The primary idea of meal prep is to enjoy homecooked meals daily! 

Cooking from scratch is a big challenge of today’s nuclear family lifestyle or individual lifestyle. Sometimes it becomes an expensive affair! There are veggies like carrot, snow peas, cauliflower, cabbage, we can cut, chop and store in the refrigerator for 2-3 weeks. But there are vegetables like eggplant, plantain, potatoes that we can’t precut and store them.

Sometimes we don’t need a whole plantain for a particular dish, for example, Shukto. If we don’t add plantain in it then a Bengali Shukto will be incomplete! 

Situations like these, instead of depriving my desire of eating that particular dish, I prefer to buy the veggies. Use as needed and then rest I boil and store for some other dish.

On a hot day, I cooked a Bengali Niramish Jhol ( Bengali Vegetable stew). Where I required a few pieces of an Eggplant. I cut an eggplant, took as many pieces I needed. Remaining eggplant I boiled, when it’s cool, stored it in a glass container to make either Chutney or Bharta!

Eggplant Chutney – Paired with almost all Indian crepes

At the beginning of the year to improve my eating habits,  in my daily meal I wanted to reduce sweet and carb intake. I set a challenge for me that for 21 days, I will follow high protein low carb and gluten-free diet. If you want to know why I took this challenge and want to get one more High Protein low carb recipe, then check my Poached egg recipe here.

During that time I started cooking different Indian crepes or pancakes for our Breakfast such as Pessarattu, quinoa moong dal chilla, Amboli, Appam and this chutney magically paired with all these crepes. 

Eggplant, Aubergine, Brinjal or  Bengali Begun?

It’s unthinkable that during winter months when the markets loaded with eggplants along with other vegetables, none of the Bengali meal is complete without eggplant. A common winter special Bengali Breakfast during weekdays is Ruti and Begun Bhaja, on the weekend it has to be Luchi & Begun Bhaja. 

Then Begun Pora, Doi Begun, Begun Posto, Shorse Diye Beguner Jhal these are the popular eggplant. This dishes that usually cooked in Bengali kitchens during the winter season. There is another dish called Beguner Tok. This is a runny liquidy eggplant and lentil dumplings stew that often serve with rice at the end of the meal.

Chutney In Indian and Bengali Cuisine!

For other Indian state Chutney serves as a condiment, chutney always serves with the rice or Roti. But in Bengali cuisine, Chutney always serves at the end of the meal as a palate cleanser, it has a balance of sweet and sour taste, but not spicy at all.

If you want to try some Bengali Chutney recipe, here are the links for you!

Here is the Eggplant Chutney recipe for you. Happy Cooking!