Sri Lankan tempered thibbatu(turkey berry).

Add a healthy, tempered wild eggplant curry to your next meal. you can add fried sprats, scrambled eggs, dry fish and even dried prawns to make the dish slightly different every time you make it.

Vegan, vegetarian, low-carb, gluten-free, dairy-free.

I don’t cook thibbatu as often as I would like, with all the health benefits these little cluster vegetable berries can give us, I think they should be a part of everyone’s meal.

We can turn them into a curry or a stir-fry but do you know they can be used in other ways as well?

You’ll find thibbatu(pea eggplant) in most Thai recipes, in their sambals, soups and sauces. that’s a food adventure I’m waiting to explore in the future myself.

Meanwhile, you can start adding them to your meal plans by cooking a very easy thibbatu stir-fry or as you might call it,”thibbatu thelata”.

 

Adding variety to a basic thibbatu(pea eggplant, wild eggplant)stir-fry.

Here are a few add-ons that can make a simple thibbatu stir-fry into a much more filling dish.

• 1/Scramble an egg into the stir-fry and make sure its extra spicy.

• 2/Add fried dry sprats or dry kunisso(tiny prawns)into the stir-fry.

• 3/ Why not make it a sambol by adding freshly scraped coconut?

4/add pieces of fried dry fish

5/my mother-in-law also makes this stir-fry with cooked jackfruit seeds, cut into slivers)slightly fried.

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How to clean thibbatu(pea eggplant, wild eggplant, turkey berry).

• Cooking this thibbatu curry is really a breeze and probably will take you 15-20 minutes to get it done. what you’ll need to spend time is cleaning and preparing the berries to be cooked.

• If you are not familiar with pea eggplant and you are trying to prepare it for the first time, you need to know that.

The seeds of the pea eggplant(thibbatu)is bitter.

• While some like the bitterness, most might find it unpleasant so the first thing you need to do is to get rid of 80%of the seeds, having a few here and there doesn’t make the bitterness so bad, in fact, they enhance the flavor of the dish.

A step-by-step guide to clean thibbatu(pea eggplants).

These come in clusters and feel hard to the touch, the first thing you’ll need to do is remove them from their stem and give them a rinse.

Then place them in a cooking pan and pour water just to cover the berries.

Place in medium heat and cook for 3-5 minutes(not more than this), the reason you are cooking them is to soften them.

Check if they slightly soft(not mushy soft), immediately remove from heat and drain off the hot water.

Place the pea eggplant in a deep bowl and pop them with a spoon or your fingers, pop them open just like you’ll do with bubble wrap.

Once you’ve popped all the pea eggplants, you’ll notice the seeds, place the bowl of berries in the sink and rinse the seeds gently.

You might have to rinse, drain and repeat it at least three times to get most off the seeds off. you don’t need to do much to remove the seeds just rinse them with water.

Once you’ve removed most of the seeds, they are ready to make the stir-fry.

 

RECIPE DIFFICULTY-LITTLE CARE NEEDED.

Sri Lankan thibbatu tempered.

(turkey berry, wild eggplant, pea eggplant)

Please make sure to read the recipe instructions carefully to avoid mistakes.

Ingredients

Ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.

250g of thibbatu(pea eggplants, cleaned,see  notes on how-to)

2 tablespoons of oil

2 garlic cloves minced

3-4 curry leaves

1 medium-sized onion finely sliced

1 red or green chilli finely sliced

1/4  teaspoon  turmeric

1/4 teaspoon chilli flecks

Salt to season

1 teaspoon of lime juice

Method

Have the thibbatu(pea eggplant cleaned and ready, see notes on how-to above).

Place a pan over medium heat and pour in the oil.

Add curry leaves, sliced onions, garlic, cut chilli pieces and cook for 3-5 minutes or until onions turn translucent.

Add the thibbatu then chilli to the cooking ingredients, season with salt and cook until thibbatu turns slightly crispy.

Before turning off the heat, add lime combine, taste for seasoning and serve warm.

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