For those of you who've eaten out with me at Indian restaurants over the years, you know that this dish is my favorite and one I always order for the table to share. No restaurant will prepare it exactly the same and the flavors one can get with the baingan (epplant) and different spice combinations with the bharta (minced vegetables) can vary greatly. I always feel like a kid in a candy store when trying my first bite of this dish at an Indian restaurant I've never been to!
In preparation for my first crack at recreating this dish - I can't believe it has taken me so many years to finally attempt it! - I read countless "authentic" recipes and watched many videos (even some in Hindi). There is really no one way to prepare this dish, as it all begins with the star of the recipe, the eggplant, which can be cooked a myriad of ways. You can roast the eggplant in an oven, sear it over an open flame or even place it directly on an electric coil - the method you choose will result in the flavor base of your dish, i.e. savory, rich, musky. And the extra special preparation - my new favorite way - of stuffing the eggplant with garlic was an attempt to bring out the smokiness of this dark beauty. Of course the ideal way to roast the eggplant would be to do so in a super hot clay oven, but as most of us do not own or have access to one, all we can do is crank our kitchen ovens to their highest possible temperature and let the garlic works its magic.
I j'adore Indian spices and knew that I had to be selective with the ones I chose to use in this recipe. You will find some baingan bharta recipes without the addition of spices - hard to believe, I know - but I could not bring myself to omit them. I recently read an article that talked about the reason why we love Indian food so much - the layering of spices and complexities they create. The food must be prepared in such a way that the ingredients can slowly release their true flavors, which are then enhanced by the bouquet of spices. That is truly what draws us to Indian cuisine and why this style of cooking works especially well with vegetables.
So who is this Akash person? Well, Akash was the first friend Andrew and I made after we moved to Portland. He happened to get into an elevator - we live on the same floor - at the same time as us and we struck up a conversation. The next thing you know, we are headed out to dinner - an Indian restaurant! Since then we've had Akash over for dinner many times and he graciously accepted the task of being my go-to taste tester for this dish, which went through several incarnations. Akash shared with me how his mother prepared the baingan and tasted and prodded my bharta to make sure it was "bhartary" enough. It gives me great pleasure to present this recipe that received 2 thumbs up from our good friend, Akash.
I hope you also enjoy my first take at adding videos to these posts!
ingredients in order of appearance
serves 4 to 6 people
2 large eggplants
8 garlic cloves minced
2 tablespoons butter or oil of choice
1 tablespoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
1 medium onion finely chopped
2 green chiles or 1 serrano pepper (the spice level will go up with the serrano) finely chopped
1 inch piece of ginger minced
5 medium size tomatoes diced
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric powder
3 black cardamom pods (optional)
1 cup of frozen peas
1/2 a bunch of coriander chopped
sea salt
Preheat the oven to 500ºF or as hot as your oven will go and set the cup of frozen peas on the counter to thaw. With a mortar and pestle or spice grinder, crush the coriander and cumin seeds and set aside.
Make 4 cross pattern slits in the sides of each eggplant and insert a garlic clove into each one - make sure the garlic is not protruding, as it will burn. Then rub the eggplants with your oil of choice, place on an oven safe dish and roast in the oven for one hour. Flip the eggplant every 15 minutes to roast each side evenly.
While the eggplant is cooking, add the butter/oil to a large pan and preheat to medium low heat. Add the crushed coriander and cumin seeds to the pan and toast for approximately 2 minutes or until they turn golden brown in color and begin to release their fragrance. After the spices have toasted add in the onion and a pinch of sea salt and sauté for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onions become more translucent. At this point add in the ginger and chiles and sauté for approximately another 5 minutes.
Turn the heat to medium and add in the tomatoes with another pinch of sea salt. Once they have softened (approximately 10 minutes later), add in the turmeric, garam masala, black cardamom pods (if using) and another pinch of sea salt, stirring and mashing the tomatoes down to create the bharta. Note - I like to use the back of a wooden spoon to mash the bharta. Turn the heat to medium low, cover and let the magic begin. Uncover, stir and mash the tomatoes every 5 minutes. Continue with this process until the mixture begins to let oil out from the sides (approximately 15 to 20 minutes).
While the bharta magic is happening, prepare and cook the basmati rice or other grain of your choice.
Remove the eggplants from the oven to a cutting board and let cool just a bit. Note - the eggplant is ready when the skin is slightly charred and it has sunken in a bit, it should be very soft and supple to the touch. Cut off and discard the stems then chop the eggplants up into small pieces - you can leave the skins on or peel the eggplants, but my preference is to leave the skins intact. Add the eggplant directly to the bharta, stir and mash, add a bit of sea salt to taste, then cover and let cook roughly another 10 minutes - stirring occasionally.
Finally add in the cooked peas and chopped cilantro (reserve a small amount on the side for garnish), stir (no mashing at this point) and cook another 5 minutes. If you added them, don't forget to remove the black cardamom pods before serving.
Serve the baingan bharta over basmati rice and garnish with a bit of cilantro if you like.
"When you cut that eggplant up and you roast it in the oven and you make the tomato sauce and you put it on top, your soul is in that food, and there's something about that that can never be made by a company that has three million employees."
~ Mario Batali
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