To begin making the Brinjal Gravy For Biryani, first soak a lemon sized or 20 grams tamarind in hot water for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes extract the pulp of tamarind and keep aside. You will need 1/4 cup of tamarind pulp for this recipe.
Add roughly chopped onions in a mixer and make an onion paste. Remove and keep it aside.
In the same mixer, add the tomatoes and puree them. Keep aside.
In a heavy bottomed pan, add 1 teaspoon of cooking oil. Let it warm up.
Once the oil is hot, add the chopped brinjal till the skin becomes slightly brown. Once they are browned, remove from the pan and keep it aside. (Browning indicates that it has cooked halfway)
In the same pan, add one more teaspoon of oil and add mustard seeds and peppercorns and wait for them to splutter. Keep it on a low flame as the peppercorns might sputter everywhere the moment it touches heat.
Next, add in the ground onion paste, ginger garlic paste and saute for a few minutes until the raw smell of onion, ginger and garlic go away.
Next, add the tomato puree, tamarind extract and salt according to your taste.
Cover the pan and cook on a low flame for about 15 minutes. Open the pan occasionally and stir so that the gravy does not stick to the bottom of the pan.
After 15 minutes, add the powdered jaggery in to the tamarind gravy and give it a good mix.
Finally add the half cooked brinjals, 1/2 cup of water and cook till the brinjals are soft. Turn off the flame and garnish with coriander leaves.
Serve Brinjal Gravy For Biryani with Hyderabadi Vegetable Biryani Recipe or Ambur Style Chicken BIryani along with a Tadka Raita for a delicious Sunday Lunch.