Sambhariya Shaakસંભારિયા શાક
Brinjal, potato and raw banana stuffed with a green coconut masala and cooked slowly. Think of it as undhiyu's simpler cousin, made on any ordinary day.
Ingredients
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- 4 small brinjals, 2 potatoes, 1 raw banana
- Filling: ½ cup coconut, ½ cup coriander, ¼ cup crushed roasted peanuts
- 2 tbsp gram flour, roasted
- 2 green chillies, ginger, garlic (optional)
- 1 tsp sugar, lemon, coriander-cumin powder, salt
- Oil, mustard seeds, asafoetida, carom seeds
Method
- Mix all the filling ingredients together.
- Slit the brinjals, potatoes and banana into quarters, keeping the base intact, and stuff them.
- Heat oil in a heavy pan and crackle mustard seeds, asafoetida and carom seeds.
- Arrange the stuffed vegetables, add the leftover filling and ½ cup water.
- Cover and cook on low for 25-30 minutes, shaking the pan rather than stirring.
- Finish with coriander and serve with rotli or puri.
Tips
- Roast the gram flour first; raw flour tastes of nothing good.
- Shake the pan instead of stirring, or the vegetables collapse.
Storing and reheating
It keeps two days in the fridge. The filling has fresh coconut and coriander in it, both of which sour quickly, so do not leave the dish out more than four or five hours in warm weather. Reheat it covered on low with a sprinkle of water for five minutes, and do not stir or the vegetables fall apart. It is not a dish worth freezing.
What you can swap
- No fresh coconut? Frozen grated coconut works as it is. With desiccated, soak two tablespoons in warm water and drain it, or the filling stays powdery.
- Crushed roasted chana dal or sesame seeds can replace the peanuts. They bind just as well and give a lighter flavour.
- If raw banana is unavailable, use small whole onions, chunks of yam or baby potatoes. In winter, adding surti papdi and purple yam takes it close to undhiyu.
- No gram flour? Just increase the crushed roasted peanuts, which hold the filling together too.
What to serve with it
Part of a Gujarati lunch with hot rotli or puri, alongside dal, rice and buttermilk. It gets cooked often in winter, when small brinjals and raw banana are at their best, and it is the kind of sabzi that goes on the table with puris on a Sunday.
Mistakes to avoid
- Do not slit the vegetables all the way through. Leave half an inch joined at the base or they open up while cooking and the filling escapes.
- Do not overstuff. Overfilled vegetables split, and the filling that spills burns on the base of the pan. Scatter the leftover filling on top instead.
- Do not use a thin pan. The gram flour and coconut in the filling stick, so a heavy-bottomed kadai or a nonstick pan is needed.
- Do not add more than half a cup of water. Too much and the filling dissolves into a gravy, which loses the whole point of a sambhariya.
Questions people ask
The filling keeps falling out. What am I doing wrong?
Either the slits are too deep or the vegetables are overfilled. Cup each one in your palm as you stuff it, and arrange them in the pan with the slit side facing up. Do not waste the filling that does escape; scattered on top, it becomes the sauce.
Can it be made in a pressure cooker?
Yes, arranged in the cooker with half a cup of water for two whistles. It saves time, but the vegetables soften and lose their shape, and you miss the browned edges that slow cooking gives.
What other vegetables can be stuffed this way?
Small brinjals, potatoes and raw banana are the traditional three. Bitter gourd (after drawing out the bitterness), small onions, parval, tindora and yam all work too. Two or three kinds in one pan makes a better dish than just one.
