Baingan Bharta
Discover the authentic taste of Punjabi Baingan Bharta with this recipe. Fire-roasted eggplants are mashed with spices, onion and tomatoes to make a delicious dish.
Ingredients
- ½ cup oil
- 3 large eggplants roasted, peeled and mashed
- 3 medium red onions finely chopped
- 3 tomatoes chopped
- 2 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 thumb-sized ginger crushed
- 1 green chili chopped
- 3-4 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili if not available, then use ¾ teaspoon red chili and adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- ½ tsp ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- ½ teaspoon garam masala for finishing
- ¼ cup cilantro chopped, for garnish
- squeeze of lemon
Instructions
- In a pan, heat up oil and saute onion till light brown.
- Add the crushed ginger, garlic and green chili and mix for 30 seconds till they release their fragrance. Then add tomatoes and cook them down covered for 10 mins or until tomatoes break down.
- Add all the spices (minus garam masala) followed by the eggplant and use a potato masher to mash everything together for 2-3 mins.
- Let it cook on medium high heat for about 10-15 mins until a nice thick homogenous bharta is formed and the oil separates. The oil will release along the edges.
- To finish the bharta, sprinkle garam masala and give it a gentle mix, then garnish with fresh cilantro and a light squeeze of lemon.
Notes
You want to frequently stir the dish and cook down the bharta until it almost sticks to the bottom of the pan.
If using kashmiri red chili, you can increase the heat level even towards the end. Just make sure to stir it for a couple minutes so the spice is not raw.