Bharvan Baingan - Stuffed Eggplants

Here's another one for the Eggplant lovers... a recipe of Bharvan Baingan with a couple of twists.

What you need:

• 6 Baby Eggplants
• 1 Big Red Onion
• 2 Garlic Cloves
• 1 TBSP Coriander seeds (Dhaniya) 
• 1 TSP Mustard seeds
• 1 TBSP Fennel seeds (Saunf)
• 1/2 TSP Fenugreek seeds (Methi)
• 1 TBSP Cumin seeds (Jeera)
• 1 TSP Onion Seeds (Kalounji)
• 2 Dry Red Chilies
• Salt - to taste
• 1 TSP Mango Powder (Amchur)
• 1 TSP Lemon Juice
• 6 TBSP Mustard Oil 

Dry roast all the dry spices (except Amchur, Salt, and Onion Seeds) on a low flame until a nice aroma comes out from them. Let the spice mix cool a bit and then grind it to a fine powder. Finely chop half of the red onion and garlic cloves. Heat 1 TSP of oil in a pan and add garlic. Saute it on a low flame until it turns light brown. Add onions and saute until they become translucent. In a bowl, mix the onions and garlic with the spice powder that we prepared. Add Amchur, Salt to taste, Lemon Juice, and 2 TBSP Oil. Give it a good mix. The oil and lemon juice help in binding the stuffing so that it doesn't fall out of the eggplants later.

Wash the eggplants and slit them partially into quarters. Stuff the eggplants well with the Masala that we prepared. Cut the other half of the red onion into long slices.

Heat the remaining mustard oil in a non-stick pan. When the oil is hot, add onion seeds, and let them crackle a bit. Add the eggplants one by one and arrange them in a way so that each eggplants gets enough space to cook. Do not clutter the pan with too many eggplants. Now add the sliced onions around the eggplants and let them cook on a low flame. Keep turning the eggplants in between to make sure that all the sides get cooked. It might take around 30-45 mins for the eggplants to get cooked completely.

Serve them hot with Lachha Paranthas/Chapatis. You may even have them with rice!

Baingan ka Bharta

After Baingan Pathankoti, here's presenting the best and the most popular dish of Eggplant (Baingan) - Baingan ka Bharta. It's extremely mouth-watering, quick and easy to prepare, and loved even by many eggplant-haters. :-)

Ingredients

• Fresh Eggplant: 1 big or 2 medium-sized
• Red Onions: 1 big (I prefer red onions to white onions in the Bharta)
• Tomatoes: 4 medium-sized
• Green chilis: 3-4
• Cumin (Jeera) seeds: 1 TSP
• Red Chili Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Coriander (Dhaniya) Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Asafoetida (Heeng) - a pinch
• Turmeric (Haldi) Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Salt: to taste
• Garam Masala Powder: 1/2 TSP
• Coriander Leaves
• Butter (to garnish)
• Vegetable Oil - 1 TSP

Preparation

Roast the eggplant on a medium flame till its skin become dark and wrinkled. Keep turning the eggplant frequently over the flame so that it gets roasted evenly. Alternatively, you can also microwave the eggplant in a large microwave-safe bowl for about 15 minutes. before putting the eggplant in the microwave, put horizontal slits on it with a knife otherwise the eggplant will burst (yes, it actually bursts! we're experienced! :D ) After the eggplant is roasted, run cold water over it and peel off its skin and mash its flesh (sounds gross, isn't it?) :-)

Chop the tomatoes and green chilis very finely. You can also microwave the tomatoes for 10 minutes and mash them (we prefer it this way cuz' it cooks faster). Chop the onions into thin slices.

Heat a pan and put oil in it. When the oil is hot enough, put in the cumin seeds, let them splutter, and turn dark brown. Add asafoetida and then add the tomatoes and green chilis. Stir for a few seconds and let the tomatoes cook for a while.

After the tomatoes are fully cooked, add the mashed eggplant. Mix them well, add the remaining spices except salt, and mix again. Add the onions now and mix them well with the eggplant. The reason for adding the onions at the end is to keep them a bit crunchy. Keep stirring the mixture to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When the onions become pale, add the garam masala and mix well.

Serving

Transfer the Bharta to a serving bowl and garnish it with chopped coriander leaves. Take a small piece of butter, put it in the middle of the Bharta and let it melt. Serve hot with Paranthas!

Baingan Pathankoti

Brinjal or Eggplant (Baingan) comes in various shapes and sizes. Its most popular dishes are Baingan Bharta and Baghare Baingan (the stuffed preparation). We recenly tried out a new preparation of the Eggplant. It's quite simple and quick to cook and tastes yummy! We call it 'Baingan Pathankoti'. ;-) Pathankot is our home town!


Here's the recipe:


Ingredients:


* Eggplant (Baingan) - 1 big
* Red Onions - 2 medium
* Tomatoes - 3-4 medium
* Finely Chopped Green Chillies - 2-3
* Finely Chopped Garlic - 1 TSP
* Finely Chopped Ginger - 1/2 TSP
* Cumin seeds (Jeera) - 1/2 TSP
* Coriander (Dhaniya) powder - 1/2 TSP
* Turmeric (Haldi) - 1/2 TSP
* Mango powder (Amchoor) - 1/2 TSP
* Red Chilly powder - a pinch
* Asafoetida (Heeng) - for flavor
* Salt - to taste
* Chopped Coriander Leaves
* Vegetable oil - enough for deep-frying


Preparation:
Chop the eggplant into 1-inch pieces and put them in water until we do the other preparations. The reason to keep them in water is to avoid the eggplant pieces turning black.


Heat oil in a pan and deep fry the 1" sized eggplant pieces.
Make sure that the oil is not very hot and take the eggplant pieces out after frying them for half a min. The whole idea of deep-frying the eggplant is to make it soft before the final preparation.

Blend onion and tomatoes to make a thick mixture. Should use a blender.

Heat 1-2 TSP oil in a pan, put cumin seeds, and wait till they start crackling. Add chopped ginger, garlic, and green chilies, and sauté them for half a min. Add the onion-tomato paste and let it cook on a low flame for a min. Add coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chilly powder, and asafoetida. Mix well. You can smell the air filled with the fragrance of North Indian spices. While you enjoy the aroma, the mixture would need a minute to be ready.

Add the deep-fried eggplant pieces and mix them well with the paste. Now we had already fried the eggplant pieces, so the pieces will be very soft and mix very nicely with the spices mixture. Make sure that the gravy is neither very thick nor very watery.
Add salt and cover the mixture and let it cook for about 5 mins. Do not forget to stir the mixture after every minute to prevent the mixture from sticking to the base of the pan. 

Check the eggplant pieces, if they need some more time, it is ok to give it another minute to cook.

Add mango powder in the end and mix well. And finally Garnish the eggplants with chopped coriander leaves and serve hot with Plain Paranthas.