Spicy, tangy and delicious Sri Lankan Eggplant Pickle. This is a great side dish to serve with steamed rice and Sri Lankan dal.
Continuing with my ‘cook by capital’ theme, my choice is ‘Sri Jayawardenepura Kotte’. It is the official, administrative capital of Sri Lanka. Wiki says that it is a satellite city and within the urban area of Sri Lanka’s de-facto capital Colombo. I had no idea about this, but it worked out perfectly for my theme with the letter S. So for today’s, I made a Sri Lankan Eggplant pickle called Wambatu Moju.
If you follow my blog, then you know my love for eggplant. I am always looking for new eggplant recipes and this pickle recipe from Sri Lanka intrigued me. I saw this eggplant salad recipe on Usha’s blog and really wanted to try.
But while I was looking recipes, I found this eggplant pickle that sounded very interesting. Fried eggplant is cooked with onions and spices to make this simple pickle that is packed with flavor. There are quite a few different versions of this dish online, I tried to combine a few recipes to come up with this one.
Original recipe called for deep frying the eggplant, but as you know eggplant is like a sponge and absorbs all of the oil. So I shallow fried them in batches in little oil. The end result was great – soft, fried eggplant in spicy onion-tomato base.
This Sri Lankan eggplant pickle can be served with steamed rice, but I think it will go great with dosa or roti too. I am glad I have added another delicious eggplant recipe to my repertoire.
Here are a few more Sri Lankan recipes from the blog:
Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked today for BM# 95.
- 2 Medium Japanese Eggplants, cut into strips Or 4~5 smallish long purple eggplants
- 1/4 cup Oil
- 1 tsp Mustard seeds
- 6~8 curry leaves
- 1 Small Red Onion, thinly sliced
- 4~5 Green Chilies, slit
- 2 Garlic cloves
- 1" Ginger, coarsely chopped
- 1 Medium tomato
- 1 tsp Coriander Powder
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- 2 tsp rice vinegar
- To taste salt
- Heat 1/4 cup oil in a large skillet on medium heat; add the eggplant strips and cook till lightly golden and tender. This will take about 4~6 minutes. Remove the eggplant onto a plate.
- Blend tomato, garlic and ginger into a smooth paste.
- In the same pan, heat 1tbsp oil and add mustard seeds and curry leaves. Once the seeds start to splutter, add the onions, green chilies and cook for 3~4 minutes or until onion is soft.
- Add the tomato paste, salt and ground coriander; cook for 2~3 minutes.
- Add the cooked eggplant and vinegar. Mix well and cook for about 3~4 minutes for the flavors to mingle. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve with steamed rice.
When I read the capital name, I nearly fell off my chair. In my mind, it was still Colombo.
The addition of vinegar keeps it apart from our south Indian style pickles. My husband too is a fan of eggplants and will try it out next time I get eggplants.
Eggplant pickle looks delicious and it looks more like a curry than our South Indian pickles, isn’t it? I looked Eggplant pickle as well when I made the salad but picked the easiest one 😊. I agree with you on Eggplant absorbing oil when deep fried. I loved the salad a lot and will try this pickle next time. Thanks for the mention.
I really like eggplant dishes and make it in North Indian style. The eggplant pickle looks delicious. I am going to try this soon.
Tried this pickle long back for a BM theme, how delicious its looks. Feel like having with a bowl of hot piping rasam rice and this pickle. Already mouth watering here.
I thought Colombo is the capital. Learnt something new today. This egg plant pickle looks amazing. I love eggplant in any form and I won’t mind this with some rice.
not an eggplant fan as you know but it does look colorful and inviting…if I liked eggplant that is 🙂
Oh I have forgotten the capital and reading your post rekindled that memory, very informative and this pickle sounds awesome…great pick Pavani..
That look yumm pavani! Looks more like a curry than a pickle, adding of vinegar though makes it distinct in flavor i believe! I bet they taste delish with a hot steaming rice!!!
We are a big fan of egg plants would love to try this !
The curry looks so tempting, I will love to have it with hot chapatis. I like the idea of frying eggplant in small batches in less oil for a less oily option. Very nice share.
Yum looks so good!! Thank you for making these Sri Lankan recipes 😊 I live in California but originally from Sri Lanka. Glad I discovered your blog!!
Hi Tamara, So glad you like my Sri Lankan recipes. Thank you and Please keep visiting 🙂