Baingan Bhartha (Mashed Smoked Eggplant)

Baingan Bhartha (Mashed Smoked Eggplant) by DK on Mar 27, 2014

Mashed Eggplant Recipe | Smoked Eggplant Recipe | Indian Baingan Recipes | Indian Eggplant Recipes

My family loves Baingan Bhartha. In fact eggplant equals to only 3 dishes in my husbands palate. Stuffed Indian brinjals, Bagara Baingan and Baingan Bhartha. If I try my hands on some other eggplant based dish, the first quip would be about why I wasted a good eggplant by making something other than the aforementioned dishes!

Traditionally large eggplants are placed on gas stove and burnt until scalded and smokey. It does take a bit of cleaning and work. Hence I use the oven to do my job, making cleaning a one stop shop process. There is no mess and it gets done practically hands free (with a wee bit of turning in the middle)

The amount of spice, depends largely on the quality of eggplant. Sometimes when the eggplants are fresh, all it needs is a little bit of seasoning to make it perfect. So adjust according to your taste preference. Garlic does some magic to this dish specifically. At least that's my opinion hence I tend to be generous with garlic. We enjoyed it on this particular day with some warm Lavash bread but any flatbread of your choice would work.

Cook time: 30 min to 1 hour
Prep time: Under 15 min
Serves: 4 people

Ingredients

2 lbs (about 1 kg) large Eggplant
1 large Onion, see Tips
4 large Tomatoes, see Tips
5-6 cloves of Garlic,chopped fine see Tips
2 inch Ginger,grated
1 tsp Cumin seeds
Pinch of Asafoetida
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Chilli Powder, or to taste
1 tsp Cumin-Coriander Powder
1 tsp Garam Masala
Pinch of Asafoetida
Few sprigs of Curry Leaves and Cilantro
Salt to taste

Tips

1. Onion: The amount of onion is entirely up to your taste preferences. I personally prefer this with lots of onion and hence use 1 generous cup of chopped onions. If you like more of Eggplant flavor, reduce the onion.

2. Tomatoes: I think I use 2 generous cups of chopped tomatoes. If your tomatoes are sour/tart tasting, you can add some jaggery towards the end to offset it. You can also reduce/increase the amount depending on your taste

3. Garlic: I personally think that lots of garlic enhances the taste of bhartha especially. But if you are not too keen on garlic, reduce or skip it.

Method

1. I have used about 3 small-medium eggplant which amounted roughly to 1 kilo. Place them on a foil lined baking sheet and apply oil over them. Rub to make sure it covers all the surface.

2. Poke few holes all around using a fork.

3. Place under a Broiler and broil until all the sides are blistered. Depending upon your oven and the eggplant it would roughly take around 20-30 minutes. Make sure to turn them every few minutes so that they get done on all sides.

4. While that's happening chop your veggies. Make sure to chop them fine into small pieces. Please refer my tips 1 , 2 and 3 for the amount of tomatoes, onions and garlic.

5. Heat a skillet in medium heat. Add 1 tbsp butter for richness (or just oil). Add the cumin seeds and when it splutters, add the asafoetida, garlic, ginger, onion, curry leaves and then finally salt in the order mentioned giving few seconds after each addition.

6. When the onion is soft, add the tomatoes. Increase the heat to medium-high.

7. The high heat will cause the tomatoes to start watering and break into a sauce. If you are tomatoes are too firm, you can sprinkle some water.

8. Stir it now and then. You will find the tomatoes is soft and you can easily mash them into a sauce.

9. Reduce the heat to low. Add the spice powders.

10. Mix until well combined.

11. Close with the lid and let it continue cooking in low heat while we prepare our eggplant.

12. See our eggplant all broiled and smoked? Cool until you can handle it.

13. Slowly peel away the skin. Because of the oil that was applied earlier, it should easily come off.

14. Mash the pulp with the fork.

15. and add it now to your tomato sauce along with the juices.

16. Mix until well combined. Do a taste test to see if it needs more seasoning. The quality of your eggplant (and your taste) will determine the amount of spice you need. So adjust accordingly. You can close with the lid again and cook in low heat for the flavors to completely meld together.

Garnish with chopped cilantro. I sprinkle with some raw chopped onion on top since we like it this way. Serve hot with rice, rotis or any accompaniments of your choice.

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Recipe Reference

my kitchen notes

Aloo Baingan Subzi Recipe (Indian Eggplant and Potato Curry)

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26 Comments

By Sadaf on Sep 13, 2015

Hi, I was linked to this recipe via a friend of mine who shares my love of food and cooking. Loving eggplant as much as I do, I had to try this recipe of yours she posted the other day. I followed it exactly, but for the asofoetida, which is not available here at any stores I tried. It still came out fantastic. I absolutely love the smoky charred taste of broiled eggplant. But I did find that a nice slow simmer at the end really brought out the flavours. Thank you for sharing the detailed step by step instructions!

By Liv on May 31, 2015

What an incredible & fun recipe! I was able to use curry powder instead of leaves, coriander powder instead of seeds & I kind of winged the garam masala with what I had I my spice rack & no asoefoetida whatsoever, but the encouragement to use your own preferences was so genuine, I was unemcumbered and I think it's the most amazing dish I've ever made, thank you so much, Namaste' DK!

By sylvie on Feb 23, 2015

Perfect comfort winter dish : )

By nirmla.kapila on Jan 26, 2015

Wonderful thanx

By Antonio Cervantes on Oct 21, 2014

Hello DK, I'm making your recipe for one of my Family and Sciences class. What's your full name so i can noted on my reference page. Thank you!

Dhivya Karthik. But, if possible, reference to my website name "Chef In You" would suffice as well :) Thank you. --DK

By Antonio Cervantes on Oct 21, 2014

I'm making your recipe for a school project! What's your full name so i can noted on my reference page. Thank you!

By Jayashree on Sep 20, 2014

Tried your recipe. Came out so well. Thanks a lot for your tips. Very much appreciated.

By Heba on Aug 23, 2014

Just finished making this. Delicious!!! Holding myself back till it's dinner time 8-O

By Ana from Madrid on Jun 2, 2014

Wonderful, thanks so much! I will look up coriander/cumin powder in my local indian food store. The dish came out deeeeelicious! Mine didn't come out as "tomatoey" looking as yours so will try to add a bit more next time. Thanks again for the great recipes! :)

By Ana from Madrid on Jun 2, 2014

Hello! I am making this recipe as we speak. It looks so delicious!! just one question, the ingredients ask for ginger, however doesn't specify whether it's grated or chopped... and the instructions don't indicate when to include... So I am using grated and including with the chopped onion... hope I'm right! :) Also, the ingredients include "cumin coriander powder" - I only have coriander and cumin but not a mix. Is this supposed to be just coriander powder? thanks so much!! Ana from Madrid

Updated the post with the ginger part. Thanks for bringing it to my notice. What you did was perfect. You might find the mix at the local Indian grocery store, but if you don't simply substitute the two powders equally in this recipe. Hope this helps. --DK

By Charan on Apr 28, 2014

Loved your recipe :) But i donot prefer making bhartha this way.. I mean baking the whole eggplant at once.!!! Actually i m afraid of any insect infestation in the eggplants, so i cut them into pieces and then i cook them afterwards in the pressure cooker :-)

By Munazza on Apr 24, 2014

Hi. This recipe sounds delicious. What is asafoetida powder?

By Poornima on Mar 30, 2014

This is what I make on those days when we want something special to eat, love the dish. Yours looks delicious.

By Joanne T Ferguson on Mar 27, 2014

G'day! Your dish looks delish and love your step by step photos too! I have recently made this dish for my blog and like your photo and recipe...I can't get enough of this healthy dish! Cheers! Joanne

By Tanya on Mar 20, 2014

I Just made this - yum!!! even better than my local restaurant. Wow and thank YOU

By gopi on Oct 31, 2013

Hi, I tried your other recipes and they are good. I have a question for this recipe. I have electric coil based stove (common at US)so, how can i roast eggplant on it?

By majeendra on Sep 18, 2011

am gonna try this next day...and tell you,she made me chole masala some days before and am so thankful to you coz she got da recipie from ur site....

By majeendra on Sep 18, 2011

m here coz of my wife,she use to say to visit ur site coz am a great fan of indian food and i enjoy to make good food for her and like to experiment in cooking...hopfully i will get much much more from ur site...

By Sana on Nov 19, 2009

Im making that today so excited

By Sana on Nov 8, 2009

My lunch for tomm is this! Thanks :wink:

By Priya on Nov 23, 2008

I love them, i also prepare as same as ur version..looks too delicious..

By Ramya Vijaykumar on Nov 22, 2008

First time here you have a nice spce here... lovely Baigan Bhartha my all time fav... You must add the subscribe via reader for readers like to get updates from your blog...

By Siri on Nov 22, 2008

Yummy look bhartha (cough) (cough) Dhivs..:) and its a sin to do something against Eggplant, I agree..hehehe..

Hugs,
Siri

By Curry Leaf on Nov 22, 2008

Lovely,I too make it the same way.Yours look delish and spicy

By Medhaa on Nov 22, 2008

Looks yumm

By DEESHA on Nov 22, 2008

i love baingan ka bharta .. that bowl looks tryly delicious