Cindy and I have tried Baingan Bharta a few times around the place and, if you read back over our writeups, you'll see that we've been intending to make a version ourselves for some time. Well we've finally gotten around to it. The recipe comes from Mallika's blog, Quick Indian Cooking, and was simple-looking enough for us to have a shot at it. We threw together a quick stir-fry of capsicum, broccolini and beans (with panch phoran) to add a little colour to an otherwise beige dish.
The first step for the eggplant curry is just to load the eggplants into the oven and bake for thirty minutes - if anything, I left the eggplant in the oven longer than the suggested half an hour, but next time I think I'll give it even longer (maybe 45 minutes) to get things really silky and soft.
While the eggplants are roasting, you fry a few things together and then you throw everything in together (having peeled the eggplants) and simmer away. Simple. And very, very delicious.
The spices, especially the seeds, give the meal a tremendous flavour, while the yoghurt and chilli add a little tang to the proceedings. As I said - the texture wasn't quite what I wanted - the takeaway versions we've tried have been so smooth as to almost be a paste, and this had a little more chunkiness to it, but it was an excellent first start. Now that we know how easy it is to make, we're going to try to make a few different versions.
Looks fabulous! I love eggplants. :D
ReplyDeletexox Sarah
Thanks, Sarah! I hated eggplant as a youngster, but now love 'em. :-)
ReplyDeleteIt does look good! So glad you both liked it. I tend to attack the stuff with a wooden spoon to smooth out some of the lumpy bits. But cooking the eggplants for longer would do the trick too.
ReplyDeleteHa, I won't be shy with the wooden spoon next time, Mallika! Thanks again for a winning recipe. :-)
ReplyDelete