Love or hate eggplant, I've never met anyone who could resist a Baingan Bharta. This north Indian dish of fire-roasted eggplant mashed and cooked with tomatoes and onions is an Indian restaurant favorite, and it's versatile enough to enhance nearly any meal, especially a simple Indian dinner of dal and rice. A vegan, soy-free, nut-free and gluten-free recipe.
I cannot figure out people who detest eggplant, although I've met many, including vegans who will chow down any other vegetable without complaining.
But the mere mention of eggplant will result in grimaces and shrugs and even an emphatic, I hate it!
The reason for this unbridled dislike, I think, could only be that these people have never eaten eggplant that's cooked correctly. And seasoned thoroughly
Sure, it's hard for someone not familiar with this veggie to know just what to do with it. Should you call it an eggplant or an aubergine or a brinjal? Should you peel that skin or leave it on? And how do you get that spongy flesh, so acridly bitter when raw, to taste good or at least palatable?
The answer is simpler than you may think: cook it thoroughly. And flavor it wholeheartedly.
Eggplant is not a veggie meant to be eaten partially cooked or mildly flavored. But when you cook it all the way and marry it with the right spices, it transforms into the most delicious food. That flesh gets melt-in-the-mouth tender and creamy and even sweet and absorbs the flavors of those complementary ingredients.
Now, if you eat it, you'll be deeply, madly, irrevocably in love.
If you want to open up your mind -- and tastebuds -- to this extra-special veggie, try looking to cusines that love it for some inspiration. Roast and mash an Italian eggplant into a tomato-onion sauce for this Baingan Bharta. Serve the smaller, tender varieties smothered in spices and coconuts in this Sri Lankan Eggplant Curry. Or roast one and blitz it with chickpeas and za'atar for a divine Eggplant Hummus.
Make friends with eggplants and, you'll find, they are a magical thing.
Baingan Bharta
Ingredients
- 2 medium eggplants (use Italian eggplants)
- 8-10 garlic cloves (crushed and left whole. Halve if very large)
- 1 tsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 2 medium onions (finely chopped)
- ¼ cup cilantro (finely chopped)
- 2 tbsp grated ginger
- 4 tomatoes (finely diced)
- 1 green chili pepper (like serrano or jalapeno, finely minced. Optional)
- 1 tbsp coriander powder
- 1 tsp cayenne (use more or less depending on how much heat you like)
- ½ tsp turmeric
- Salt to taste
Instructions
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Roasting the eggplants on a grill or stovetop: Make slits all over the eggplant skin and insert the crushed garlic inside each until it's firmly embedded. Using a pair of tongs, carefully roast the eggplant on each side until the skin is charred and a knife inserted in the thickest part goes cleanly through. Roasting the eggplants in the oven: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut each eggplant into half lengthwise. Make slits in the flesh portion of each half and insert a garlic clove in each. Place cut side down on a foil-lined pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the thickest part of the eggplant goes cleanly through.
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When the eggplants are cool enough to handle, peel off the charred skin if you roasted them over an open fire, or, if you baked them, scoop out the flesh with a spoon. Chop roughly. You can also mash the eggplant or blitz it, but I prefer chopping for the best flavor. Set the eggplant aside.
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In a saucepan, heat the oil and add the cumin. Let the cumin darken slightly and then add the onions, green chili peppers if using, and half the cilantro. Season with some salt. Saute over medium heat until the onions soften and start to brown.
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Add the ginger, coriander powder, cayenne and turmeric. Mix well to toast the spices, for about a minute. Then add in the tomatoes. Mix, and let them cook another five minutes or so until pulpy. You don't want to cook them for too long.
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Add the chopped or mashed eggplant and mix thoroughly until it disappears into the sauce. Add salt as necessary.
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Turn off the heat after five minutes. Garnish with cilantro and serve hot.
Nutrition
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