Baingan Bharta

Baingan Bharta

This is a super hit dish amongst the egg plant lovers. Egg plant when baked has a unique smoky flavor. The smoky flavor of the baked egg plant makes your taste buds crave for more. Although the method of this recipe looks tedious, it really is not. The end product is all worth the effort.

Ingredients:

Egg plant - 1
Onion (finely chopped) - 1 large
Tomato (finely chopped) - 2 medium sized
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Curry leaves - few
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric - 1/8 tsp
Red chilli powder - 1 tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 3 tbsp
Cilantro (finely chopped) - 3 tbsp

Method:

Preheat the oven to 510 F. Make sure its in a bake mode.

Wash and wipe the egg plant dry with a clean kitchen towel.  Brush it with some oil. Make a few cuts on the egg plant with a knife. This is to prevent it from blasting inside the oven and to let it cook well from inside as well.

Now place the egg plant on a baking tray and bake it for 30 min or till the egg plant skin has some blisters. Keep an eye on it. Every oven temperature is different. You might also want to turn the egg plant round every now and then.

Let the egg plant cool a little bit. Now with your hands, peel the skin off. It should come right off. Discard the skin. Put the flesh of the egg plant on a chopping board and give it a rough chop with a knife. Put it aside.


Now put a pan on medium high heat. Add the oil. Add the mustard seeds. Let the mustard seeds crackle. Add in the cumin seeds. Now add the chopped onion. Saute it till the onions are translucent. Then add the curry leaves. Stir them in. Add the ginger garlic paste. Saute it till the raw smell is gone and the oil oozes out. Now add in the chopped tomatoes. Mix well and cover it with a lid till the tomatoes are cooked. This should take around 2-3 minutes. Then add in the turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder, salt and saute well for a minute or two.

Add in the chopped egg plant. Mix well, turn the heat to medium low and cover it with a lid. Let it simmer for 3 minutes till the oil oozes out. Turn the heat off. Add in the chopped cilantro.

Baingan Bharta

 
Serve hot with chapati. It goes well with hot steaming rice too, but chapati is the best option. Enjoy !!

Tasty tips:

While choosing an egg plant always choose the one that has a nice green stem. The egg plant should have a vibrant purple color with a nice shine. Such an egg plant has less seeds and the flesh inside is whiter, which is more tastier.
Some people grill the whole egg plant on the stove top instead of an oven. But in US especially, the better option besides an oven would be a barbecue grill.