Punjabi menu – Baingan Bharta, Dhabewali Dal, Parathas
For someone who hated brinjals all through my childhood, my present love for Baingan Bharta is something that surprises me no end. I don’t recall when I tried making this first or whether I ate it at a restaurant that led to this love. Whenever I’m ordering vegetables, I make sure there are big brinjals in the list so one of the dishes in the weekly menu is always baingan bharta. It is surprising that I have not shared my recipe for the same on the blog in the last 9+ years.
Baingan Bharta is a popular Punjabi dish that pairs superbly with plain rotis /parathas and the large eggplants are often charred in a tandoor in the highway side dhabas to prepare this dish. The curry is prepared with a mix of onions and tomatoes fried with ginger, garlic and other spices, the end result being a thick puree like dish and not the typical watery or creamy curry base.
While a lot of recipes will say it is okay to roast the brinjal / eggplant in the oven, I am of the firm belief that nothing compares to the smoky aroma that roasting it on a direct flame (or even better, on charcoals) imparts to the dish. With a light coat of oil all over the brinjal with its stem intact (which you can use to rotate the brinjal from side to side), place on the flame, and keep rotating it until it is charred and black on all sides. When a knife or skewer inserted in, goes through smoothly, it is ready. A fellow food blogger, Nikhil Merchant has this excellent tip of making tiny slits in the raw brinjal, inserting a clove of garlic into each slit and then roasting this on the flame. The roasted garlic when mashed along with the eggplant gives a big boost of flavour to the dish.
For kitchens without an open flame cooking system, the oven + grill is the next best option. Slit lengthwise, coat with oil and place cut side down on a baking tray. Keep the tray under the grill / broiler for 15-20 minutes. Another tip to avoid messing up your cooking stove with the skin and juices of the eggplant is to wrap the eggplant in 2-3 layers of heavy duty foil and then place it on the flame, rotating once in a while until the whole vegetable is soft.
Baingan Bharta
Recipe for Baingan Bharta | Punjabi style roasted eggplant curry
Serves 3-4
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: less than 20 minutes
Recipe for Baingan Bharta - Punjabi roasted eggplant curry
Ingredients
- 500 gms eggplant Globe (2 medium sized)
- pinch Asafoetida
- 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
- 3 cloves Garlic , crushed, finely chopped (large)
- 1 tsp ginger Finely grated
- 2 onions Medium , finely chopped
- 2 Tomatoes (large) , finely chopped
- 2 Green chillies , slit lengthwise
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric
- 1 tbsp Dhania jeera - powder
- 1/2 tsp Garam masala powder
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Directly roast the eggplants on the flame until completely charred from all sides.
- This needs to be monitored to ensure that eggplants are rotated over to all sides and get uniformly charred. A knife can be passed through the eggplant at the end of 7-8 minutes, to check if it is cooked inside. In this case, knife will pass through smoothly, in case eggplant is uncooked inside, you will feel the resistance.
- Remove the eggplants onto a plate and cover with a large bowl and keep aside.
- In 5 minutes, the eggplant will be cool enough to handle, and you can peel off the skins by merely tugging at them. Mash all the flesh, discard the stems and keep aside.
- In a heavy bottomed kadai, heat the oil.
- Add the asafoetida, cumin seeds. Once cumin seeds splutter, add the ginger and garlic and saute for 30 seconds.
- Add the finely chopped onions, toss well, sprinkle a pinch of salt. Cover and cook until onions are soft, around 5-7 minutes. Add the tomatoes with the remaining salt, and dry spices, cover and cook until tomatoes are completely soft and mushy. Stir this well.
- To this, add the mashed eggplant flesh, around 1/2 cup water and bring to a simmer.
- Sprinkle garam masala powder at this stage and simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from flame.
- Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot with chapatis.
Your blog is impressive, thanks to the quality of your recipes & other content. We would be glad if you would participate on Contestchef so that your quality recipes can contest with other such bloggers/ recipe creators and win accolades from various players in the global food industry.Contestchef is a global forum for food/ recipe bloggers to showcase their skills to the world. This is a one of a kind concept and backed by food conglomerates around the world. Severalrecipe creators/bloggers are already contesting on Contestchef.Click to join ContestchefSincerely,NandyContestchef
very good post thanks a lot Chowringhee
Your blog is impressive, thanks to the quality of your recipes & other content Chowringhee
Thanks! Your Blog is Rocking 😉 Your blog is impressive, thanks to the quality of your recipes & other content Chowringhee
I am so glad I found your site! Your blog is absolutely gorgeous – the food and the photography. Chowringhee
Sent from Outlook
Hello!!YOU SERIOUSLY NEED TO STOP SPAMMING MY COMMENTS AND FIND OTHER CREATIVE WAYS OF MARKETING WHATEVER IT IS THAT YOU ARE. Thank you. Sent from Outlook
I’m a little unclear towards the end. After adding water and eggplant, how long do I cook it for? No info there. Thank you.
@kristina let me look into it, thanks for pointing out. Just simmer for 2 minutes until everything comes together, as the eggplant is already cooked in the roasting process. Hope this helps!
Thank you, Nandita. It turned out really well!
This recipe is just what I was looking for! What would you suggest if I wanted to add salmon to this dish, how to go about it?
Im a vegetarian, i would not know how that would work best 🙂