Vangi bath is a healthy and delicious Karnataka dish made with cooked rice, brinjal with a special spice blend.
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What is Vangi Bath?
Vangi Bath is a rice-based dish made with cooked rice, brinjal, peanuts/cashew nuts and spiced with a special spice mix.
Vangi literally translates to “brinjal” or eggplant in Marathi. It might have its roots in Maharashtra, but somehow got popular down south in the state of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
Vangi Bhaat is prepared during festivals or a get together as it is relatively simple to prepare. It makes a great lunch box / tiffin box dish and stays fresh through the day.
Ingredients for Vangi Bath
Brinjal, also known by the name of eggplant or aubergine in English, badanekai is Kannada, kathrikai in Tamil and vangi in Marathi – This is essential to vangi bath.
Rice – You can use any rice for this dish. I mostly use kolam rice at home but it will taste great in basmati rice too.
Spice Powder – The main flavour comes from this Vangi Bath Masala Powder recipe, so it’s essential that you keep this ready. You can also purchase this powder. I’ve tried MTR’s Vangi bath powder, and it’s good.
The other ingredients are – Cooking oil, mustard seeds, curry leaves, finely chopped onions and lemon juice.
To add a crunch element to the dish, you can add Peanuts or cashew nuts as well.
You can also garnish the brinjal rice with freshly grated coconut.
How to make Vangi Bath
The prep work
The first step is to cook the rice. Wash the rice thoroughly in a sieve or in a container. Add water in the ratio of 1:2 or 1:2.5 and cook the rice as you would in a pressure cooker or stove top. Once the rice is ready, tip the rice onto a large plate and allow it to cool down. Be sure to separate the clumps of rice so that the cooked grains aren’t sticking together.
While the rice is cooking, you can prep the vegetables. Chop the onions and wash the curry leaves and keep aside. Keep a bowl of water and add the chopped brinjal to the water to prevent discolouration.
Putting together the Vangi Baath
To a kadai, add two teaspoons of cooking oil. Once the oil is warm, add the mustard seeds and allow it to sputter. If you are using, at this stage you can add peanuts or cashew nuts. Toast them until they turn brown.
Next, add the curry leaves and onions. Saute the onions until they are soft. Now, add the chopped brinjal to the pan and allow it to cook for a few minutes while mixing it.
Add 2 tablespoons of vangi baath powder and 1 tsp salt and mix all the ingredients well. Allow the brinjal / vangi to cook. You know the brinjal is cooked when it changes colour.
At this stage, turn off the stove and add the cooked and cooled rice. Squeeze some lemon juice on top and garnish with some coriander leaves.
Take your time and mix the rice with the onions and brinjal. Make sure to coat every single grain of rice with the masala.
If using, finally garnish with some freshly grated coconut.
Serve Vangi Bath with cucumber raita and papad.
Storage and Shelf Life
Vangi bhaat makes for an excellent lunch box dish. You can keep it on the counter for a few hours, it will be ok. If you garnish with grated coconut, it is best to keep it in the fridge after a couple of hours.
You can make and store the rice for up to 2 days in the fridge. Once removed from the fridge, it is best to reheat it only once.
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Recipe
Vangi Bath | Brinjal Rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup Rice (180-200g)
- 2-3 Long green brinjal diced
- 1 Onion small, diced
- 2 tsp Cooking oil
- ½ tsp Mustard Seeds
- 2 sprigs Curry leaves
- 1 tbsp Cashew Nuts / Peanuts
- 2 tbsp Vangi Bath Powder heaped spoons
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice
- Grated coconut handful (optional)
Instructions
Prep work
- Rinse the rice under water until clear. Add it to a container and fill 2 times the quantity of rice taken. If you have 1 cup of uncooked rice, you will need 2 cups of water (same measurement cup).
- Pressure cook the rice for 3 whistles and turn off the cooker. Once the cooker's pressure has released, remove the rice from the container and spread it on a plate, so that it can cool down.
- While the rice is being cooked / cooling down you can prep the vegetables. Peel the onion and dice it into small pieces. Wash the brinjal and cut them in to 1-inch cubes. Keep a bowl of water next to the cutting board to add the cut pieces. This is to avoid the brinjal pieces from discolouring.
Preparing the vangi bath
- Place a kadai on medium heat. Add the cooking oil. Once the oil is warm, add the mustard seeds and allow it to sputter.
- Next, add the peanuts/ cashewnuts. Saute them in the oil for 15-20 seconds.
- Now, add the curry leaves and sliced onions. Saute the onions until they are soft.
- Add the cut brinjals without the soaking water. This might sizzle a bit, so drain as much water as possible before adding the brinjal pieces to the kadai.
- Mix all the ingredients well. Now add the vangi bath powder and cook the spice powders along with the brinjals and onions. Add 1 tsp salt too. Brinjal cooks fast so this should take less than 3-4 minutes.
- Once the brinjal has cooked (light green brinjal would've turned into a dark green colour now) turn off the flame.
- Add the cooked and cooled rice to the kadai. Squeeze the juice of one lemon on the rice along with half a teaspoon of salt.
- Take your time and mix the Vangi Bath very well. The taste of the spices and seasonings should be coated well with all grains of the rice.
- Once mixed, you can serve Vangi Bath along with Cucumber raita or plain curd.
