Baingan Bartha with Green Peas

Baingan Bartha

I know its been a while since my last post, but I dint have the time to take good photos, hence the delay in posting a recipe.

I haven’t had this subzi much to be honest because I am not a fan of eggplant. Eggplant (Baingan) is probably one of the veggies I don’t cook often either especially as a North Indian side dish. Recently though, I have started making this often since my husband V is really fond of this. Plus the smell of roasting eggplant puts me off. But instead of roasting it in the stove, (which somehow fills the house with the aroma of roasting eggplant) I have started roasting the eggplant in the oven. This way, it makes clean up easier and the aroma doesnt fill up the entire house! The big fresh eggplants are available pretty much all year round, so it makes for a lovely side dish to go along with chapatis. It also tastes great with plain steamed Basmati rice or jeera rice/pulao.

Here's what you will need.

Ingredients

Large Eggplant	1
Onion	1 Large
Tomato	2
Green chillies	2
Cumin Seeds	1 tsp
Red chilly powder	½ tsp
Garam Masala	1 tsp
Salt	To taste
Turmeric Powder	¼ tsp
Oil	2 Tbsp
Green Peas	¼ cup
Fresh coriander Leaves/Cilantro	Handful
Ginger Garlic paste	1 Tbsp

Method

Pick a ripe eggplant, where the skin is smooth and without cracks. Brush the eggplant with oil and poke the surface with holes. Place it on the stovetop or on a baking tray in the oven lined with aluminium foil and broil/ grill it on high setting Alternatively you can place it on the stovetop and roast it too.

The roasting is done when the skin is completely wrinkled and the juices have started flowing out of the eggplant. Let it cool by setting it aside. The holes ensure that the skin comes off easily and the eggplant doesn’t burst. Also ensure that the oven is open while grilling the eggplant or for that matter grilling anything!

While the eggplant Is roasting, chop the veggies required for the curry. Once the eggplant is cool to the touch, you can easily pry open the skin from it. Discard the skin and start shredding the cooked eggplant with a fork.

Heat a pan and add oil and the onions. Saute them in the oil with a pinch of salt until they turn translucent. Once that’s done add in the ginger garlic paste and cook it until the raw smell disappears. 

Add in the tomatoes and let it cook. It will start oozing out water. Add in the salt, chilly powder and turmeric powder and give it a mix. Let it cook well and form a gravy. Add the shredded eggplant and give it a mix. It will be a little thick so you can add water to thin it out. I like to add green peas to this gravy, so I add frozen green peas at this stage before adding the water.

Bring it to a boil and add in the garam masala. Cook for 2 minutes. Finally add some fresh chopped cilantro/coriander leaves and serve piping hot with chapatis or rice!

I actually made this without the onion for my husband. It essentially is the same procedure just minus the onions and garlic. 

Tips

1. After roasting the eggplant almost halves in volume, so if you would like the dish to comfortably feed around 4 people, then double the recipe.
2. You can also make this without the green peas, I just love to add green peas in just about everything I can.
3. The onions can probably be added raw to the steaming hot gravy, the heat is just enough to warm the onions a little without cooking them and it makes for a very interesting taste.
4. Btw, this subzi makes for a wonderful stuffing for a panini, go ahead try it!