Kathirikai Rasavangi

Kathirikai Rasavangi or Brinjal Rasavangi is a very popular sambar / kootu or pitlai made in South Indian households. I love eggplant and this is one of my favorite to make.

I love sambar recipes that are made with a lot of vegetables. Every time I make sambar, I add tons of vegetables in sambar as my boys love eating them. Hence I make kootu more often than I make regular sambar.

Kathirikkai Rasavangi with Okra Curry in the background. - 1

This rasavangi has a lot of kathrikkai / brinjal and is made with freshly ground spices and tuvaram paruppu / toor dal. Amma always plans lunch based on what she is planning to make for dinner.

If she is planning to make dosai for dinner, then she would plan to make rasavangi for lunch. This rasavangi tastes amazing with dosai and it is one of my favorites.

What is rasavangi?

Rasavangi is an authentic recipe made predominantly by the Tamil Brahmin family. I would call it a cousin of arachuvitta sambar but it closely resembles kootu than sambar. Rasavangi can be made with white pumpkins as well. I make it as white pumpkin kootu which is the same as a rasavangi.

Why make this recipe?

If you are an eggplant lover, this is a must-try recipe.
It is very easy to make and tastes great not just with rice but also with idli and dosai.
I make it as often as I can in summer with homegrown eggplants. The best part is, we can use any kind of eggplant for this recipe. If I have a couple of different kinds of eggplant, I mix ther and make this rasavangi.
It is a vegan recipe and is a great choice if you follow a vegan lifestyle.

What kind of brinjal/eggplant to use for kathrikai rasavangi?

Amma would make kathirikai rasavangi mostly with the long purple brinjal which is called the Japanese eggplant in the US. I grow these every summer and I make it with that.

But the best part is we can use any eggplant that is available. I make it with the big eggplant that we use to make Baingan Bharta and also the small eggplants that are used to make kathirikai curry / poriyal . I have also mixed different kinds of eggplants and used them together.

Ingredients and substitutes

E ggplant / kathirikkai / Brinjal - I have used long eggplant in the recipe. See the note above on what other eggplant can we use.
Tuvaram paruppu / Toor dal - Cook the toor dal until soft and mushy and use it in the rasavangi recipe.
Tamarind - Use fresh tamarind or tamarind pulp.
For garnish - curry leaves and cilantro
Spices - Turmeric powder and salt. We will make fresh spice powder as well which is listed below.
Fry together and grind into powder - Chana dal, Coriander seeds, Red chilies, coconut.
To season - Oil, Mustard seeds, urad dal, curry leaves

Step-by-step process

Prep work

Cook the tuvaram paruppu / toor dal in enough water until soft and mushy and keep aside. I cook toor dal in an instant pot in pressure cook / manual mode for 15 minutes.

Soak the tamarind in hot water for a few minutes and extract the juice from the tamarind. Squeeze the extract by adding water about 3 times and keep the water separate. If using tamarind paste, use about 1 teaspoon of paste and dissolve it in 2 cups of water.
Fry all the ingredients listed above (chana dal, coriander seeds, red chilies, and coconut) and grind them into a coarse powder. Keep aside.

Lentil, Red Chilies and Coconut fried and ground into powder. - 4

How to make rasavangi

Cut the eggplants into 1-inch pieces. Heat oil and add the eggplant chunks and scald it for a few minutes until the eggplants start changing color.

Japanes eggplant chopped into cubes. - 5

Now add the extracted tamarind water to the eggplant. Make sure that the water covers the vegetable.
Add salt and turmeric powder and let it boil until the vegetable is cooked well.

Now add the ground powder and cooked Paruppu and mix well. Also, add the asafetida and curry leaves and let the mixture come to a boil.
Season the cooked rasavangi with mustard seeds, urad dal, and curry leaves, and serve hot. I made some okra curry to serve with kathirikai rasavangi.

Process shot to make Kathirikai Rasavangi. - 7

Expert Tips

Make sure to have all the prep work done ahead for an easy and smooth cooking process.
After chopping the eggplant, keep it soaked in water until ready to cook. This prevents the eggplant from becoming brown.
Grind the roasted spice powder in intervals, so it does not become oily from the coconut.
Cook the toor dal until mushy either in a pressure cooker or instant pot.
Cook the rasavangi on low flame after adding the spice powder and dal and keep stirring in frequent intervals.

Kathirikai Rasavangi is ready and served. - 8

Kathirikai rasavangi tastes amazing with rice and ghee. I also love it with ven pongal , arisi upma , and Neer dosai .

My mother would typically use the long eggplant (Japanese eggplant) to make rasavangi. But I have used all kinds of eggplants and have even mixed and matched different kinds.

Brinjal rasavangi tastes best when served fresh, right after cooking. If there are leftovers, we can keep them in the refrigerator for a couple of days and serve them after warming.

More eggplant/brinjal recipes

Aloo Baingan | Potato and Eggplant Curry
Vangi Bath | Brinjal Rice | Eggplant Rice
Dahi Baingana | Fried Eggplant in Yogurt Sauce
Kathirikkai Gothsu | Eggplant Gothsu | Brinjal Gothsu

Recipe

Equipment

▢ bowl
▢ Pressure Cooker
▢ spatula

Ingredients

▢ 2 Eggplant / Brinjal I used the long thin ones (about 3 cups chopped)
▢ ½ cup Thuvaram paruppu/red gram dhal cook until soft and mushy
▢ 1 teaspoon Tamarind or a small piece (as big as small lime)
▢ 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
▢ few Curry leaves
▢ ¼ teaspoon Asafetida
▢ to taste Salt
▢ 2 teaspoon Oil
▢ to garnish Cilantro

Fry together and grind into powder

▢ 1 ½ tablespoon Kadalai Paruppu / chana dal
▢ 1 tablespoon Coriander seeds / dhania
▢ 6 Red chilies
▢ ⅓ cup Coconut grated

For seasoning

▢ 1 teaspoon Oil
▢ 1 teaspoon Mustard seeds
▢ 2 teaspoon Ullutham paruppu / Urad dal
▢ few curry leaves

Instructions

Cook the thuvaram paruppu in enough water until soft and mushy and keep aside. I cook it in Instant pot and cook it on manual / pressure cook mode for 15 minutes.
Soak the tamarind in hot water for few minutes and extract the juice from the tamarind. Squeeze the extract by adding water for about 3 times and keep the water separately. If using tamarind pulp, dissolve 1 teaspoon of pulp in about 2 cups of water.
Fry all the ingredients listed (coriander seeds, chana dal, red chilies and coconut) and grind into a coarse powder. Keep aside.
Cut the eggplants into 1 inch chunks. Heat oil and add the eggplant chunks and fry it for few minutes or until the eggplants change color to light brown.
Now add the extracted tamarind water to the eggplant. Make sure that the water covers the vegetable. If not add a little more water to cover the brinjal.
Add salt and turmeric powder and let it boil until the vegetable is cooked well.
Now add the ground powder and cooked toor dal and mix well. Also add the asafetida and curry leaves and let the mixture come to a boil.
Season the cooked rasavangi with mustard seeds and urad dal and serve hot with rice.

Video

Notes

Make sure to have all the prep work done ahead for easy and smooth cooking process.
After chopping the eggplant, keep it soaked in water until ready to cook. This prevents the eggplant from becoming brown.
Grind the roasted spice powder in intervals, so it does not become oily from the coconut.
Cook the toor dal until mushy either in a pressure cooker or instant pot.
Cook the rasavangi in low flame after adding the spice powder and dal and keep stirring in frequent intervals.

Nutrition

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