Guest recipe: akhu shaak- whole vegetables with a spicy peanut stuffing

Ingredients

• 2 Baby potatoes
• 2 Baby aubergines
• 2 Baby onions
• 4 large mild chillies
• 2 Med ripe bananas

For the masala stuffing :

• 2 tablespoons desiccated coconut
• ½ cup coarsely chopped peanuts chopped in the chilli chopper
• 1 green minced chilli
• 1 tablespoon minced ginger
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• Pinch of bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ teaspoon asafoetida
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Chilli powder to taste
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 1 cup of finely chopped fresh coriander
• ½ cup fresh methi/fenugreek leaves chopped
• 1 finely chopped onion
• ¼ cup sunflower oil
• ½ cup chickpea flour (besan)
• 2 tablespoons coriander powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin powder
• For tempering
• ¼ cup cooking oil
• 4-5 fresh/dry curry leaves
• 1 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• ¼ teaspoon asafoetida
• For the Sauce
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 1 ½ cups of water
• Salt to taste
• Sugar to taste
• Chilli powder to taste

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Preparation

• Dry roast the chickpea flour in a non stick pan with cumin powder and coriander powder until it emits a wonderful, toasted aroma. Mix in all of the other ingredients for the masala stuffing minus the oil. Set aside. Simple.
• Prepare your vegetables, leaving the stalks intact make lengthways slits through them without cutting them in half - if you do by mistake then don't worry they taste/work just as well. Set them aside.
• Prepare your vegetables, leaving the stalks intact make lengthways slits through them without cutting them in half - if you do by mistake then don't worry they taste/work just as well. Set them aside. Heat ¼ cup sunflower oil to smoking temperature and pour this over the masala stuffing ingredients you mixed together earlier. Be careful because it will splutter and sizzle.
• Now stand back and nose the aroma the masala emits the moment the hot oil hits it. Now mix the oil and masala into a paste so it is ready for the vegetables to be stuffed with. Gently pull apart the slit vegetables and start stuffing the masala into them, taking care not to split them apart.
  
• Place the vegetables into a microwave proof plate, cover with cling film making sure you have pricked a couple of air holes for steam to escape. Arrange the vegetables in a large oven tray.
• In a wide pan heat the sunflower oil then add mustard seeds, when they start popping add cumin seeds, curry leaves, sesame seeds and asafoetida. Add the tomato puree and water and stir. Flavour this sauce to your taste using salt, sugar and chilli powder and cook for 4-5 minutes.
• Pour this sauce over the stuffed vegetables and make sure they are all coated. Cover with foil and cook in at 220 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes. Then remove the foil and cook for a further ten minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until crispy on top. Garnish with chopped coriander. Serve with hot rice, Gujarati daal, hot buttered chapattis, accompanied by all the trimmings like Gujarati style pickles, salads, green chillies and a cooling glass of yoghurt lassi.