Brinjal is an original Indian vegetable

by Guest Sat Sep 03, 2016 10:32 pm

i like Sanghvi's food columns, and this is one of the better ones:

http://virsanghvi.com/Article-Details.aspx?key=1285

by Guest Sun Sep 04, 2016 5:28 am

Over the years, bitter experience has made me cautious about claiming anything as our own. Many of the vegetables, pulses, and flavours that we consider central to Indian cuisine turn out to have come from the Americas and were introduced to India by European colonialists: chilli, potato, rajma, etc.

So it is with dishes. They are not always of indigenous origin. Our pulao comes from the Turkish pilaf, the samosa is a variation of the Middle Eastern sambusak. The jalebi came to India from West Asia. Tea was planted in Darjeeling by the British who brought the plants from China. Coffee came from the Arabs. And so on.

So I have never made any great claims about baingan. And Western authors have told us that even the word baingan comes from the Persian badinjan. The other ‘English’ name we use for the vegetable, brinjal, is said to come from the Portuguese berinjela.

And indeed, fancy people in the West don’t use any of these names. In America, they call it an eggplant. In England, they call it an aubergine. The Italians call it melanzana (which is why their famous dish is called Melanzane Parmigiana.)

No doubt, I thought, it would turn out that the Turks or the Europeans sent us baingan. Or perhaps it came to India with European imperialists.

But, I am happy to say, I was completely wrong. The baingan is ours. We gave it to the rest of the world. The Turks, the Italians and everybody else, took it from us. They may give it fancy names. But it is an ancient Indian vegetable. It appears in all our ancient texts – even our epics – and we have had the first ever name for it: the Sanskrit vrantakam from which the Hindi baingan came.

by MaxEntropy_Man Sun Sep 04, 2016 6:21 am

Barely scratched the surface. There are a hundred different Tamilian dishes alone with aubrgines, the name for which in Tamil is neither baingan (or vankaya as the Telugus call it which has some phonetic similarities to baingan), but kathirikkai. That sounds nothing like any Persian or Portuguese root.

by swapna Sun Sep 04, 2016 10:36 am

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:Barely scratched the surface. There are a hundred different Tamilian dishes alone with aubrgines, the name for which in Tamil is neither baingan (or vankaya as the Telugus call it which has some phonetic similarities to baingan), but kathirikkai. That sounds nothing like any Persian or Portuguese root.

I don't know about the origin of the kathirikkai, but the kathirikkai - the small-diameter, longish ones available in chennai, not the rounder, fat, fleshy, american ones called eggplant - sambaar is my fav sambaar. the ameican zucchini is also excellent in a sambaar.

by Hellsangel Sun Sep 04, 2016 10:44 am

http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=config&basename=%5Cdata%5Cdrav%5Csdret&first=3581 wrote:Proto-South Dravidian : *vaẓdaṇ- (-l-)
Meaning : brinjal
Dravidian etymology: Dravidian etymology

Tamil : vaẓutalai, vaẓutuṇai
Tamil meaning : brinjal, egg-plant, Solanum melongena; India nightshade, S. indicum
Tamil derivates : vaḷai climbing brinjal; vaŋkam, vaŋkaṇam brinjal
Malayalam : vaẓutina, vaẓutini
Malayalam meaning : brinjal
Kannada : badaṇi, badaṇe, badane, badne
Kannada meaning : brinjal
Tulu : badanè
Tulu meaning : brinjal
Proto-Nilgiri : *vaṛdaṇ

Notes : Tamil vaŋkam is probably borrowed from Telugu.
Number in DED : 5301

by swapna Sun Sep 04, 2016 12:16 pm

Hellsangel wrote:
http://starling.rinet.ru/cgi-bin/response.cgi?root=config&basename=%5Cdata%5Cdrav%5Csdret&first=3581 wrote:Proto-South Dravidian : *vaẓdaṇ- (-l-)
Meaning : brinjal
Dravidian etymology: Dravidian etymology

Tamil : vaẓutalai, vaẓutuṇai
Tamil meaning : brinjal, egg-plant, Solanum melongena; India nightshade, S. indicum
Tamil derivates : vaḷai climbing brinjal; vaŋkam, vaŋkaṇam brinjal
Malayalam : vaẓutina, vaẓutini
Malayalam meaning : brinjal
Kannada : badaṇi, badaṇe, badane, badne
Kannada meaning : brinjal
Tulu : badanè
Tulu meaning : brinjal
Proto-Nilgiri : *vaṛdaṇ

Notes : Tamil vaŋkam is probably borrowed from Telugu.
Number in DED : 5301

the malayalees I knew pronounced it as vazhudananga, I.e. vazhuthanan-ka(i).

by Guest Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:09 am

swapna wrote:
MaxEntropy_Man wrote:Barely scratched the surface. There are a hundred different Tamilian dishes alone with aubrgines, the name for which in Tamil is neither baingan (or vankaya as the Telugus call it which has some phonetic similarities to baingan), but kathirikkai. That sounds nothing like any Persian or Portuguese root.
I don't know about the origin of the kathirikkai, but the kathirikkai - the small-diameter, longish ones available in chennai, not the rounder, fat, fleshy, american ones called eggplant - sambaar is my fav sambaar. the ameican zucchini is also excellent in a sambaar.

besides curry leaves, i like onions, tomatoes, french beans, and carrots in my sambar. i understand that authentic sambar often contains drumsticks.

by MaxEntropy_Man Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:18 am

i intensely hate carrots in sambar. they become mushy and characterless in sambar. i had a roommate in grad school who cooked nothing but the thing. the only way i like carrots is grated and mixed with quartered tomatoes in a simple salad dressed with lime juice and with a generic south indian spice tempering (tadka) -- mustard seeds, asafoetida, broken black gram, curry leaves, and crushed black pepper. lightly salted.

the authenticity of the sambar doesn't derive from the vegetables added but by the cooking method and the specific mix of ingredients that go into making the sambar powder. often one or two vegetables are sufficient. a sambar is not a vegetable stew. traditional sambar has one or two and no more of the following -- drumsticks, green pepper (known in india as thanjavur miLagai or capsicum), small pearl onions, kathirikkai etc. some US based vegetables that work also are zucchini and some of the fall and winter squashes.

here are things i hate in sambar - tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli.

by Hellsangel Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:25 am

For your sake I hope someone makes chicken sambar and egg sambar, Il Professore.

http://www.indobase.com/recipes/details/chettinad-chicken-sambar.php

https://www.vahrehvah.com/indianfood/egg-sambar

by Guest Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:33 am

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:i intensely hate carrots in sambar. they become mushy and characterless in sambar. i had a roommate in grad school who cooked nothing but the thing. the only way i like carrots is grated and mixed with quartered tomatoes in a simple salad dressed with lime juice and with a generic south indian spice tempering (tadka) -- mustard seeds, asafoetida, broken black gram, curry leaves, and crushed black pepper. lightly salted.

the authenticity of the sambar doesn't derive from the vegetables added but by the cooking method and the specific mix of ingredients that go into making the sambar powder. often one or two vegetables are sufficient. a sambar is not a vegetable stew. traditional sambar has one or two and no more of the following -- drumsticks, green pepper (known in india as thanjavur miLagai or capsicum), small pearl onions, kathirikkai etc. some US based vegetables that work also are zucchini and some of the fall and winter squashes.

here are things i hate in sambar - tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli.

thanks for this information. capsicum is also known as shimla mirch. i like capsicum, but not with sambar. is there any brand of sambar powder that you would recommend?

by MaxEntropy_Man Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:38 am

We grind it fresh at home, but the MTR brand (look for the Madras sambar powder) is acceptable. The generic MTR sambar powder has cinnamon which I like only in bisi bElE bAth and not for everyday use.

by Guest Mon Sep 05, 2016 11:42 am

MaxEntropy_Man wrote:We grind it fresh at home, but the MTR brand (look for the Madras sambar powder) is acceptable. The generic MTR sambar powder has cinnamon which I like only in bisi bElE bAth and not for everyday use.

thanks.

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