Eggplant Mango Kadhi
Aug 22, 2017, Updated Jan 02, 2018
Spiced Mango-Yogurt dish with sauteed eggplants! This is Indian comfort food at it's best. Enjoy it with boiled rice.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Mango Kadhi with sauteed eggplant. This sweet and sour kadhi is total comfort food and tastes amazing with rice!
The days are getting shorter & colder and I can almost feel that nip in the air.  The sun is still out but it just doesn’t feel that warm/summery anymore. Are you guys excited for the change in season? I was hardly in Seattle for summer this year, it’s only the last 1 month that I stayed at home. We didn’t do any grilling, no summer activities and now we are almost at the end of it.
Time doesn’t stop for anyone, does it? Feels like yesterday when I was preparing to leave for Houston for mom’s bone marrow transplant same time last year. I can’t believe it has been 1 year to that and I also can’t believe that mom has been gone for 2 month. I still find it hard to believe this truth. I am trying to accept this life without her but it can never be the same. It’s like a part of me has gone with her and it can never heal back.
Sometimes I cook something which makes me miss mom all the more and that’s exactly what it was when I made this Eggplant Mango Kadhi last week. I so wanted her to taste it, I just knew that she would have loved it so much. I made this kadhi because I had nothing in my refrigerator that day except for an eggplant, few mangoes and yogurt. So I combined everything together and voila this eggplant mango kadhi was cooked and devoured.
Kadhi is pure comfort food for most Indians. This yogurt-chickpea flour based dish is extremely popular in north India and if often eaten with rice. The traditional kadhi has 2 main ingredients – yogurt and besan (Hindi for chickpea flour). The two are combined, whisked and then cooked with spices. It is mostly enjoyed with rice, I can tell you about Delhi – everyone loves their kadhi with rice!
The consistency of kadhi could be really thin or slightly thick, it depends on how you like it and also which part of the country you belong to. Every one makes it a bit differently. Mango kadhi is a popular dish in the state of Gujarat, I added eggplant to it and it turned out really good. If you love the combination of sweet and sour with lots of flavors, then you would love this eggplant mango kadhi.
Check out some other kadhi recipe on the blog: Bhindi Kadhi | Spinach Kadhi
This Mango Kadhi
✓ has a sweet and tangy taste
✓ is spiced with cumin, mustard, coriander seeds
✓ comfort food at it’s best
✓ tastes amazing with boiled rice
For this kadhi, I sauteed the eggplant first with little cumin and garlic till they were soft. I then made the kadhi batter, added the tempering and let it simmer for 10 minutes before adding the eggplant. Sauteing the eggplants is really important, they won’t taste great if you put them straight into the kadhi. You may also deep fry the eggplants, I bet it would taste even better (but of course with extra calories!).
You can obviously make this kadhi minus the eggplant, mango kadhi on it’s own is awesome too.
Method
Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a pan. Add 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds and chopped garlic. Saute till seeds crackle and garlic starts turning golden in color.
Add cubed eggplant. Mix to combine.
Cook on medium heat for 7-8 minutes till eggplants are cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.
Meanwhile using your blender, mix together mango puree with yogurt.
Transfer mixture to a bowl and add in turmeric powder, besan and red chili powder. Whisk to combine till there are no lumps.
Add 2 cups water to thin out the batter. Stir till you have a smooth batter. Set aside.
In another pan heat 1.5 tablespoons oil on medium heat. Once oil is hot, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and crushed coriander seeds. Saute till other seeds sizzle and mustard seeds pop up.
Add chopped ginger, chopped green chili, hing, curry leaves and broken dried red chilies. Saute till the ginger starts turning golden brown in color.
Then add the prepared kadhi mixture to the pan.
Keep stirring the kadhi on medium heat till it comes to a boil. Then add 1.5 cups more water and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes. After the kadhi has been simmering for a bit, add the prepared eggplants to it, also add the salt and lower the heat to medium-low and let the kadhi simmer for additional 8-10 minutes.
You may garnish the kadhi with cilantro. Enjoy this eggplant mango kadhi with boiled rice!
* You may use ghee in this recipe, I have used oil.
* This is a sweet and sour dish so make sure the yogurt that you use is sour and mango is sweet and ripe.
* I usually do a tempering/tadka at the end whenever I make kadhi, but this turned out so flavorful that I skipped it. You may do a tadka of ghee, cumin seeds, paprika and garlic.
* You may make this kadhi without the eggplant. Skip the step of sauteing the eggplant and rest remains the same.
Eggplant Mango Kadhi
Ingredients
for sauteeing eggplant
- 1 medium eggplant 294 grams, cubed
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 teaspoons oil I used avocado oil
for the kadhi batter
- 3/4 cup mango puree use sweet mango puree
- 3/4 cup plain yogurt use sour yogurt
- 1/4 cup besan also known as chickpea flour
- 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1/4 teaspoon red chili pwoder
- 2 cups water + 1.5 cups water
for tempering the kadhi
- 1.5 tablespoons oil I used avocado oil
- 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed coriander seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon hing also known as asafoetida
- 2 teaspoons chopped ginger
- 2 dried red chilies broken
- 2 green chili chopped
- 10-15 curry leaves
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Instructions
Saute the eggplant
- Heat 2 teaspoons oil in a pan. Add 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds and chopped garlic. Saute till seeds crackle and garlic starts turning golden in color.
- Add cubed eggplant. Mix to combine.
- Cook on medium heat for 7-8 minutes till eggplants are cooked. Remove from pan and set aside.
Make the kadhi batter
- Meanwhile using your blender, mix together mango puree with yogurt.
- Transfer mixture to a bowl and add in turmeric powder, besan and red chili powder. Whisk to combine till there are no lumps.
- Add 2 cups water to thin out the batter. Stir till you have a smooth batter. Set aside.
Cook the kadhi
- In another pan heat 1.5 tablespoons oil on medium heat.
- Once oil is hot, add cumin seeds, mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds and crushed coriander seeds. Saute till other seeds sizzle and mustard seeds pop up.
- Add chopped ginger, chopped green chili, hing, curry leaves and broken dried red chilies.
- Saute till the ginger starts turning golden brown in color and then add the prepared kadhi mixture to the pan.
- Keep stirring the kadhi on medium heat till it comes to a boil. Then add 1.5 cups more water and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.
- After the kadhi has been simmering for a bit, add the prepared eggplants to it, also add the salt and lower the heat to medium-low.
- Let the kadhi simmer on low heat for additional 8-10 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Eggplant Mango Kadhi
This peculiar combination especially of mango and kadhi got me curious and finally I made it yesterday. Did not regret it. It was AMAZING!!!! My family and friends both loved it. Just loved the different flavor from normal kadhi and so easy to make. Will make it again. Thank you!!!
How do you make the mango puree if you have fresh mangoes?
pulse the mango pulp in a grinder until smooth!
This was a great dish.I loved eggplant kadhi recipe.I loved your way of cooking and method.It is definitely worth trying, and I will be making it again.The taste and recipe method are amazing.Before this, i made Punjabi Yakhni Pulao Recipe For my Mom his taste also awesome.Sharing a link with you: ( http://sooperchef.blogspot.com/2017/08/punjabi-yakhni-pulao-recipe-sooperchef.html )
Thank you Mira, yeah looking forward to fall!
Thank you Harriet, I think you will like it!
Thanks Angie, indeed it was fun!