Gutti Vankaya Kura Andhra Style Stuffed Eggplant Curry

This post was originally published in August 2011. Post updated with detailed recipe card and new pictures in February 2020. Gutti Vankaya happens to be my absolute favorite dish. All of my blogging marathon friends know my love of eggplant. I have tons of eggplant recipes on the blog that I have tried and enjoyed.

Andhra Style Stuffed Baby Eggplants:

This Andhra style gutti vankaya kura/ curry is a very popular dish. It is found on many South Indian restaurant menus as well. But I find the restaurant versions are usually drowning in oil and are way too spicy for my taste. This South Indian stuffed eggplant curry can be made either dry or with a gravy. I prefer the gravy version because it goes well with rice and even roti. Dry curry is great as side dish to dal and rice.

Gutti Vankaya kura without onion & garlic:

So here’s my mom’s version of homemade gutti vankaya curry. This is a no onion, garlic or ginger recipe. Before I go into the recipe, let me tell you what the recipe name actually means. ‘Gutti’ means stuffed in Telugu and ‘Vankaya’ means eggplant. So the name literally translates to ‘Stuffed Eggplant’.

Ingredients needed:

Fresh Indian or Thai style baby eggplants - look out for these at Indian or Asian groceries. Roasted peanuts and sesame seeds form the base for the curry. I always have store bought unsalted roasted peanuts in the pantry. But you can easily dry roast the peanuts and use them here. Dry red chilies give the necessary heat to the dish. Following spices are added to add flavor and beautiful aroma: Coriander, Cumin, Cloves, Cinnamon.Finally tamarind pulp rounds off the dish with the sourness. Tamarind is a difficult ingredient to substitute. It is sour with notes of sweetness. So try to source it from well stocked supermarkets or online.

Stuffing and Cooking the Eggplant:

Make an “+” cut on the bottom of the eggplant, about ¾th of the way up, making sure that the eggplant still holds together and does not become pieces. Then the spice paste is stuffed into the eggplant. This is the most time consuming process of making this dish. So if you can delegate to someone else, then definitely do it. Do not worry about any remaining spice paste. That goes into the curry making a nice sauce around the eggplant. Once all the eggplants are stuffed, then cook them on low flame, stirring occasionally, until they are completely cooked through. Serve with steamed rice or roti and enjoy this amazing Andhra curry.

Top Tips:

There is a version of stuffed eggplant/ brinjal in every state in India. The stuffing and the same differs from region to region. Call it bharli vangi or ennai katharikai or badanekai yennegai, it is still the same silky eggplant cooked in a delicious spice mixture. To make the best eggplant dish, here are a few tips:

Choose the freshest eggplant that you can find. Pick small baby eggplant and make sure all of them are of the same size.Crowns should be bright green and not brown. When gently pressed, they should be are firm but not too hard. Also avoid anything with bruises. Undercooked eggplant tastes bad - so cooking it thoroughly low and slow on medium-low heat is the key to get the best taste and texture.This curry can be made in the pressure cooker or an Instant Pot to expedite the cooking process and also to make sure that the eggplant are thoroughly cooked through.