Recipe: Baingan Bharta (North Indian Eggplant Curry)

Indian cuisine can certainly lay claim over having some of the best vegetarian dishes on earth, I swear. It's rather ironic that I only truly learned to appreciate Northern Indian food for the first time when I was in the US rather than in Asia as most of the Indian food we find in Southeast Asia hails from the South. Baingan Bharta (I've been told it translates from Hindhi as "Eggplant puree")  is one of my favourite dishes to have with naan. It is rich and hearty and stands up well as a dish on its own as well as paired with other meat or vegetable dishes.  

Serves 4-6 as part of a multicourse meal


Ingredients:
For the eggplant:
Olive oil to drizzle
2 slender, long eggplants


For the sauce:
2 ripe, medium-sized tomatoes, chopped
1 hot green chilly, chopped
1 inch ginger root, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small brown onion, chopped
1/2 red capsicum, chopped
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 sprig curry leaf
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2  teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2  teaspoon cayenne or red chilly powder
1/4 teaspoon garam masala (A blend of Indian spices, available at most good supermarkets)
Chopped coriander to garnish
1 teaspoon sat adjust to taste and freshly cracked black pepper

Roasting the eggplant lends it a smoky flavour which is essential to getting this otherwise simple dish right.

Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Place whole eggplant on a cookie tray and prick all over with a fork. Drizzle a lug of olive oil over eggplant and rub lightly into skin. Roast for about 35-45 minutes, turning every 10-15 minutes until skin is wrinkled and lightly browned and eggplant is tender. In the meantime, blend tomatoes, ginger, garlic and green chilly until pureed.  When eggplant is done, remove from heat and cool.

Cut stems and peel off skin from eggplant and cut into chunks. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Add cumin seeds, and stir around until they start to plump up. Add onion and curry leaves, and stir for about 5 minutes until onions are wilted. Add coriander, turmeric and cayenne/chilly powder, and fry for about 1 minute until fragrant. Add tomato mixture from blender, chopped capsicum and simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Add eggplant and garam masala and stir well. Add salt and black pepper to taste. If mixture is too dry, add about 1/4 cup of water. Simmer, covered, over low heat for another 10 minutes. By this point, the eggplant should be well incorporated into the sauce, and there should be very little liquid left. (If there is too much liquid, crank heat up to medium for about 5 minutes).

Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.