Whole stuffed Eggplants(Aubergines or Brinjals)

This one is from my 2010 archives. I was so busy making these exotic eggplant dishes that I did not take the time to post.

Only when there is an abundance of something, and I am sort of tired of making the same dish do I think about the ones that I don't make often.

The whole stuffed Eggplant being one that I presumed was tedious. But thanks to our abundant harvest, I made it 8-10 times in a span of just 1 month.

These are Eggplants from Renees Garden. The plant has been extremely prolific, fairly disease resistant and produces very tasty Eggplants.

I slit the Eggplants making sure not to slit them all the way through. I stuffed them with my "Sambar Powder"(This is a pantry staple, and I will post a separate recipe on how I make mine). There are usually different variations of the powder that is stuffed into the eggplants and I am hoping to make all the different variants shortly considering the abundant harvest we are having.

The key thing in using this "Sambar powder" is to ensure that you mix the required amount of salt into the mixture. I also make a thick paste of tamarind (about 1 tbsp of store bought tamarind paste or a thickly squeezed extract tamarind that is the size of a golf ball. This is for about 12 eggplants)

Once I have dry stuffed my eggplants, I drizzle my thick tamarind extract onto each one and microwave them for about 8 minutes. They come out looking like these in the picture below.

I then transfer them onto a hot cast iron pan well glazed with oil and roast them on a slow fire for about 15 minutes, taking care to turn them carefully without breaking them.