Eggplant Ravaiya
Ravaiya is the name of a traditional authentic Gujarati dish, made from stuffing whole baby eggplants and cooking them. The spicy, nutty, coarse spice paste made from peanuts, chickpea flour, and lots of garlic and dry spices is stuffed inside an eggplant.
Servings: 4 servings
Ingredients
- 8 baby eggplants
Stuffing
- 1 cup roasted peanuts coarsely ground
- 4 tbsp oil neutral, divided
- 3 tbsp chickpea flour
- 3-4 cloves garlic grated
- 1 ½ tsp red chili powder
- ½ tsp turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cumin powder
- 1/2 tsp garam masala
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tbsp sugar
- cilantro garnish
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl, add all the ingredients of the stuffing and 2 tbsp of oil. Give it a good mix. If you are not using ground roasted peanuts, then you can make the stuffing in a food processor while grinding the peanuts. Set the mixture aside.
- Put slits in the eggplants on the bottom part about ¾ all the way and keep the stem intact. This is where we will stuff the eggplants. Repeat and make 4 slits in the rest of the eggplants.
- Take the stuffing and fill the eggplants enough to fill the space. Reserve the peanut mixture that’s left over.
- Take 2 tbsp oil in a preheated pan. Place the stuffed eggplants in a single layer in the pan, preferably with a lid. Cook the eggplants until they are halfway tender. Add ¼ cup water to them so that they do not burn. Cover the lid and cook. Once a while, keep stirring them to make sure they are not sticking and cooking on all sides. Add the rest of the leftover peanut mixture and cook the mixture until they are perfectly cooked but still intact. To test if the eggplants are cooked just poke them with a knife or fork.
- Keep the consistency to your liking. Add cilantro and once cooked, serve it with hot rotis.