Baingan ka bharta-another recipe of the eggplant king!

As Ceedy said eggplant indeed seems the king of all vegetables. Everyone seems in love with it and oh, calling it a versatile vegetable won't be an underrating as not only it has so many names but gives us such varied recipes.

Today, we embark on to make 'baingan ka bharta' which is an Indian name for a recipe of eggplant. Trust me, it tastes yum and takes a short time to get ready. So, here we go-

Making time: 40-60 minutes
Makes: 3 servings
Shelf life: Best served hot and fresh. Can be refrigerated for 12 to 24 hours.

Ingredients-
~2 large brinjals or a big one(supposing you are a bachelor, or maybe living alone). Note here that for this recipe you should get seedless oval brinjal(s). While buying take care to opt for the ones with shiny,unblemished skin.
~1 large onion-finely chopped
~2 ripe tomatoes
~1/2 tsp ginger-finely chopped
~ 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
~2 green chillies-finely chopped
~1 tsp coriander leaves-finely chopped
~ Red chilli powder (to taste)
~1/4-1/2 tsp. Turmeric
~salt to taste
~1/2 tsp mustard seeds
~3 tsp. refined/mustard oil (as per preference)
~1 and a half tsp curry powder/garam masala
~chopped coriander for garnishing.
~Peas are an optional ingredient. You can use them to enhance the taste or you may not use them.

Method

Roasting the brinjals-First of all, do make sure to check to see that the brinjal has no germ holes, etc. Wash them and wipe dry. Roast them directly on an open flame. This would take some 7-10 minutes as you have to rotate them over the flame every thirty seconds, making sure that they are roasted even. Cook till they are soft all over and gain a blackish brown texture. Keep them aside and let them cool for a few minutes.

The Masala preparation-While the brinjals are cooling, you can heat refined/mustard oil in a pan/kadhai. Add cumin and mustard seeds and allow them to splutter. Add finely chopped ginger, onion, green chillies, coriander leaves, red chilli powder, salt, tumeric, curry powder, peas and mashed tomatoes and fry them over low heat stirring frequently until they gain a light golden brown tint and the mixture leaves oil. Make sure to continuously stir the mixture.

The final take-The brinjals must have reached room temperature during this time and now, you can either put them under running water or scrape out them. Both of the methods will cause their burnt skin to peel off. Transfer the contents to a plate and do remember to check the contents for any sort of worms or signs of such infestation. If infested, wait until you get brinjals next time :). If not, mash the contents which would result in pulp and add the pulp to the above prepared masala. Stirfry for 2 to 3 minutes, add one tea cup of water, cover the vessel and let the mixture cook over low heat for another 25-40 minutes (this also depends on the quantity you are preparing, less quantity would require less time) or till the mixture leaves sides of pan. Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot with fluffy chapatis, paranthas or warm bread rolls.

Tips

~To check for any infestations at the very starting, you can draw two vertical and two horizontal cuts on the brinjal. Make sure you don't dig too deep or the brinjal would slice into four halves. Check for the worms and if the color in even.

~Also, while mashing the brinjals one can think of using mixers but that leaves the pulp very smooth which isn't a preferred option for this recipe.

Happy Cooking! Till next time, splurge on!

-D Sinner!

Kingg of Vegetables

Let me introduce to you to Solanum Melongene - the king of vegetables - with its crowning glory like a jester and doning a shiny brownish - purplish coat. It is commonly known as Eggplant or Aubergine or Bringal or colloquially known as Baingan in India.

It is available in various parts of the world in different shapes and sizes as seen in the picture below
Eggplant is one of the most versatile vegetable. If not convinced now you surely will by the end of this post.
As a respect to the Kingg we have dedicated an entire week to it. In this post I shall take you around the world exploring its uses in different cuisines. In the coming days fellow Cookers Vrij and D'Sinner will showcase recipes from the south and north of India.


My liking for eggplant is two fold - first it is native to India. Wikipedia gives a very detailed description of the same and secondly 2/3 of the worlds eggplant is grown in New Jersey where I reside.

Starting the journey with the homeland India we have the :
- Hyderabadi Bhagare Baingan - presented by Vrij next post
- Baingan Bharta - presented by D'Sinner after that.


- Aloo Baingan (Potato Eggplant Curry) - this dish can have variety of tastes depending on the spices and the region it is made in India.
- Karnatakas Badnekayi Gojju - Eggplant dish cooked in tamarind juice and jaggery with chilly powder from South Central India.


- Gujarati Undhiu - A large variety of vegetables are skillfully combined with baked wheat koftas flavored with greens and its unique spices from Western India.

In the Chinese Cuisine a common found recipe is :

- Braised Chinese Eggplant in Garlic Sauce - This popular Szechuan dish is made with Chinese eggplant, which is thinner and longer than the short and thicker eggplant that is commonly available in supermarkets .

Moving to Italian Cuisine few dishes are:

- Eggplant Parmigiana - It is a recipe where layers of cut, sliced and drained eggplants are baked with marinara sauce and layered with grated Parmigiana cheese.


- Eggplant Rollatini - Sliced eggplant rolled around Mozzarella cheese topped with tomato sauce.

- Eggplant Caponeta - This hearty Sicilian dish makes a tasty appetizer served with crusty bread. It can also act as a side dish or salad.


- Grilled Eggplant - This can be had as an appitizer as it is grilled in balsamic vinegar and olive oil.


Also a variation of this is to grill green peppers, onions, zucchini and have it as a Grilled Eggplant Sandwich - either as a panini in Foccacia bread (image link) or regular Italian bread (image link).
Moving on to Middle Eastern Cuisine :

- Baba Ganoush - Eggplant is baked or broiled over an open flame - mashed and mixed with spices and served with dressing of oil and pomegranate concentrate. It is eaten as a dip with Pita Bread (image link)

Most of the food mentioned above has been tried and tasted by me - besides this here are some interesting links
- Eggplant Salads from Around the World
- Beer Battered Deep Fried Eggplant
- Various other Eggplant recipes - this link shows the versatality of the King - if you are stilll not convinced. It not only shows the use of eggplant around the world in Pasta, Vegetables, Dip, Appetizer and Accompaniment but also includes Ukranian Cenea which even though contains onions and garlic is deemed as Russian Desert. This weekend I am going to try and eat this.

Also fellow readers - if you have any interesting recipes for eggplant please do share it with us. We will publish it and dedicate the post/recipe to you. All the names of the dishes are hyperlinked to online recipes - click away.

Hope you enjoyed this post and are now ready to sing Eggplant is Kingg sans Snoop Dogg though.

Egging and out - ceedy