Medicinal uses of brinjal

Brinjal is very nutritious. The medicinal properties of large brinjals and those grown in villages are different. Hence eat dorli brinjals, white brinjals resembling eggs of the hen, thorny brinjals or village ones. Brinjals can also be grown in your kitchen garden.

1. Choosing a brinjal

A brinjal should neither be too raw nor too ripe.

2. Some dishes made from brinjal

2 A. Vegetable dish from brinjal

Steam fresh brinjals, add rock salt as per taste, ginger and saute it. Do not add chilli powder. Some deseed them before preparing a vegetable dish.

2 B. Bharit (Roasted eggplant mash)

Wash the brinjal, roast it on the firewood or gas. Remove the skin. Add pepper powder, asafoetida and rock salt to it and mash. Eat with jowar bhakri. This helps digestion and improves appetite. Do not add oil to it as it makes it difficult to digest. Dorli brinjals are good for this recipe especially if roasted on firewood.

3. Properties of brinjal

3 A. Small brinjals decrease bile and phlegm.

3 B. Large brinjals are easy to digest but create a little hyper acidity.

4. Medicinal properties of brinjal

4 A. Fever and cough

When you have fever have brinjal vegetable dish as it induces appetite. It also reduces phlegm in the body. Soft rice made after sautéing rice if eaten along with brinjal vegetable dish is useful in fever and cough.

4 B. Bloating

Sometimes bloating of the abdomen induces pressure on the heart causing restlessness and continuous pain in the abdomen. Eating brinjal bharit especially of Dorli brinjal known as bruhati in Sanskrut helps here.

4 C. Piles

Eating white brinjal and fomenting the anal region carefully with roasted white brinjal wrapped in cloth helps in treatment of piles. This should be done very cautiously.

4 D. Swelling of testes

Application of the paste of the boiled root of brinjal on the testes gives relief within a few days.

4 E. Disturbed sleep

1.Consuming 2 teaspoons of the juice of brinjal leaves with cubed sugar induces good sleep.

2. Eat bharit of brinjal at night.

4 F. Boil

Roast a brinjal and hold it onto the boil.

4 G. Weakness

Brinjal is not only an appetiser and highly nutritious but it also increases the semen count. Those with swelling of the body due to accumulation of fat and weakness should certainly eat brinjal atleast once or twice a week. It increases strength within a few days and boosts the immunity of the body.

-Vaidya Vilas Jagannath Shinde, Jijai Ayurveda Chikitsalay, Khalapur, Raigad District