Thai Eggplant with Goda Masala

When I was a kid, my mom would shoo me away if I wandered around the kitchen, saying, ‘পড়াশুনা করো গিয়ে, রান্না বান্না করার জন্যে সারা জীবন পড়ে আছে ' (Go and study. You have your whole life to cook) Maybe she feared that I would lose out in the rat race if I got distracted by other things.

 The kitchen has been always a magical place for me where simple ingredients turn into delicious dishes with a pinch of this and a dash of that. Needless to say, my mom is one of my greatest champions now even when it comes to my cooking. I try to respect her conventional palate but sometimes I nudge her to try new things. Recently, I have seen her being more adventurous with food and enjoying different flavors that could appear outlandish to her. In the picture is Thai eggplant cooked with goda masala, coconut flakes, jaggery and peanut paste. Added sliced onions and green peas to add complexity. You can add tamarind too.

Method:

1. Cut the eggplant (preferably small sized one for aesthetics) into bite sized pieces
2. Fry sliced onion in cooking oil until uniformly browned. Add the eggplant pieces and sauté for a while. 
3. Add goda masala
   Ingredients link
4.  When the eggplants are almost done, add jaggery powder, coconut flakes , and peanut passte. You may alos add tamaring if you want it to be tangy.

Enjoy with roti (Indian flatbread) or as a side to a bigger meal with rice.

Moringa or drumstick leaves (সজনে পাতা) dal with toor and masoor mix

Method

1. Wash and pressure cook equal parts toor dal and masoor dal with salt and turmeric. You can cook with only toor or only masoor dal (red lentil) too.
2. In a wok, heat 2 tsp cooking oil, whole cumin seeds, dry red chilies, chopped garlic and drumstick leaves (destem and wash them before cooking). You may add mustard seeds and curry leaves too. Slit green chilies and 1/4 tsp ginger paste will also enhance the taste, 
3. Saute for a bit and add the cooked dal to the spices. Cook to a boil.