Category: Dinner, Festive Recipes, Lunch, Traditional
Cuisine: Indian, North Indian
Yields: 4 Servings Difficulty: Medium Prep Time: 15 Mins Cook Time: 30 Mins Total Time: 45 Mins
Every meal with a Roti or phulka needs a perfect side dish to go along. If this side dish is going to be healthy with less greasy stuff, it is an added benefit. Baingan Bartha is one of those healthy side dishes that are tasty with less fat in it. Traditionally, Baingan Bhartha is made with roasting the Baingan/ eggplant on a tandoor oven to get the smoky flavor in it. However, I have tried getting the smoky flavor with the regular stove. The right way of roasting the eggplant results in a delicious smokey flavored Bharatha. The roasted eggplant combined with the onion-tomato based curry and spiced with powders gives a tasty Baingan Bharatha. Do try this recipe following each of the steps and enjoy this with roti or phulkas.
Ingredients
Adjust Servings
- Main Ingredients
- Spice Powders
Instructions
- Take an eggplant and make lengthwise slits around all the sides of the eggplant. Brush oil all around and insert a skewer to it. Roast the eggplant on direct flame turning on all sides for even roasting.
- Once the skin turns charred, it means the eggplant is roasted completely. Remove from flame and set aside. Peel off the skin from the eggplant while it is still hot. Use a fork to mash the eggplant roughly.
- Heat a pan and add oil to it. Add Jeera seeds once it is hot followed by chopped garlic, green chillies and ginger until they are roasted.
- Add Onions and tomatoes and saute well. To the onion-tomato mix, add turmeric powder, coriander powder and red chilli powder with salt. Sautee them well until they are soft and mushy. Add in garam masala for the flavouring.
- Once the raw smell of masala powders goes off, add coarsely mashed eggplant and sautee until they blend together. Cook in medium flame for 2- 3 mins.
- Once they are well cooked, add in coriander leaves and switch off the stove. Serve hot with rotis/ phulkas.
Notes
- The important step in this recipe is the roasting of eggplant. Make sure to do slits on the eggplant so it gets cooked even inside.
- If you like to add one or two garlic cloves inside the slit eggplants, you can add them for that extra smokey flavor.
- I have used a fork to mash the eggplant for a coarse-textured bhartha. You can also grind them in a blender if you like a smooth consistency.