Vegetables are a must for good health, and aubergine is one of the vegetables available all year round. Most people eat it in some form, from fried aubergine to all kinds of curries.

But the same vegetable dishes all the time get dull. So try making something special from an ordinary vegetable. One such dish is begun dolma. Once you taste it, the flavour stays with you, and it is quite easy to make.

• Fried aubergine: half a kg
• Mustard oil: one cup
• Fried onion (beresta): half a cup
• Onion paste: one tablespoon
• Yoghurt: one cup
• Ginger paste: one teaspoon
• Garlic paste: one teaspoon
• Chilli powder: one teaspoon
• Turmeric powder: half a teaspoon
• Salt to taste
• Water as needed
• Tamarind pulp: one cup
• Sugar: one teaspoon
• Panch phoron: half a teaspoon

Heat oil in a frying pan. Add the fried onion, onion paste, yoghurt, ginger paste, garlic paste, turmeric powder, chilli powder, salt and water one by one, and cook the spices down well.

Now add the fried aubergine, tamarind pulp, sugar, fried onion and roasted cumin powder to the spice mixture and cook.

On another burner, heat a pan and add mustard oil. Fry the panch phoron in the hot oil, then add the cooked aubergine to it.

Cover and cook for at least five minutes. When done, take it off the heat and serve the mouth-watering begun dolma. It goes well with rice or roti.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.