Pumpkin Curry with Bringal Rotti by Peter Kuruvita

Ingredients

Brinjal rotti
2 cups plain flour
2 tbsp butter
½ tsp salt
1 cup water or enough to make moist but non-sticky dough
100ml oil, for greasing the skillet

Brinjal pickle
1 large eggplant, cut into batons
8 red onions, chopped into quarters
2 green chilli
1 tbsp turmeric, plus extra
500ml oil
2 sprigs curry leaves
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vinegar

Pumpkin curry
2 tbsp ghee, melted
1 sprig curry leaves
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 green chillies
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp roast curry powder
2 tbsp thickening powder
2 tsp cumin powder
½ turmeric powder
1 tbsp mustard paste
1 large pumpkin, peeled, cut into thick slices
400ml water
100ml coconut cream
1 tsp salt

Preparation

To make the brinjal rotti, in a bowl, place the flour, butter, salt and water. Using your hands, knead the mixture until a sticky dough forms. Divide the dough into balls. Transfer to a bowl, drizzle over the oil and set aside to rest.

Meanwhile, to make the Brinjol pickle, place the eggplant, onion, chilli and turmeric in a bowl. Cover the bowl and shake to coat the eggplant.

Heat the oil in a wok and, once hot, deep fry the eggplant mixture. Once cooked, remove from heat and place into a bowl.

Heat some more oil in a pot. Add the curry leaves, garlic, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, extra turmeric, sugar and vinegar.

Cook until the spice mixture is fragrant and taste to check there is equal balance of sweet and sour. Remove from heat, combine with the eggplant mixture and set aside.

To make the curry, place the ghee, curry leaves, onion, garlic and green chillies, and fry until fragrant. Add the coriander powder, roast curry powder, thickening powder, cumin, turmeric and mustard paste, and fry for a few minutes.

Line the base of the pot with the pumpkin slices and add a bit of the water, as well as the coconut cream.

Add the salt, increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until the pumpkin is cooked through. Remove from heat.

To prepare the rotti, take a ball of dough and, using your fingers, spread it out to form a thin disc. Take a spoonful of the eggplant pickle and place in the centre of the disc. Fold the dough over the pickle to form a triangle.

Heat oil on a hotplate over low heat and fry each side of the triangle to seal.

Next, place the triangle flat on the hotplate to cook. Repeat with the dough and eggplant pickle.

Serve the rotti with the pumpkin curry.