Baingan Bharta, Indian spiced Eggplant, sultry rich Indian spicy flavors dance with some luscious eggplant, onion, and cherry tomatoes. This dish screams exotic comfort food, and I loved it! I think you will love it too!
Song of the day: "Jai Ho!" from Slumdog Millionaire.
Baingan Bharta, Indian spiced Eggplant. One thing that always gets me hungry is when I smell the aroma of Indian food simmering. This was the case with this dish, it filled the house with scents of curry, coriander, chilies, cumin, turmeric, etc. As a result, all I felt was the vibrations of the growls that were coming from my stomach! Is it ready yet!....................
The beauty of Indian food, it's not just another pretty face........
I love Indian food, south or north, central, no matter. It is so rich in aroma, flavors and so colorful, consequently making me feel so joyful. So what do you do with food that makes you feel so so good? MAKE IT! lol...............
This Baingan Bharta, Indian spiced Eggplant, can be a dish on its own with some nice warm naan, or it can be one of many dishes gracing your next Indian buffet feast! Get your fingers warmed up because this is an all-out affair with your hands and the help of some naan!
Our shopping list:
- 8 small Indian eggplant
- Onion
- Garlic
- Cherry tomatoes
- Turmeric
- Yellow curry
- Cumin
- Coriander
- Dried red chili flakes
- Grated ginger
- Butter
- Olive oil
- Coconut milk
- Salt and pepper
- Onion and garlic powder
How do you prep this eggplant?.............
- Firstly you have to rub some oil all over the surface of this bodacious eggplant.
- Secondly, place in a pre-heated 400° F (200° C) oven.
- Thirdly, cook till they get soft inside and the skin gets all wrinkled.
- Lastly, let cool, peel, and place the meaty plump soft pulp into a small dish, and set aside.
Time to develop the flavor..............
This is my favorite part, getting all those exotic spices mingling with the eggplant, onion, and cherry tomatoes.
- First some vegetable oil in a cast pan with some sesame oil. In go the onions to get all soft and caramelized.
- Second, add in the garlic and grated ginger. The reason I do this is I don't want to burn the garlic.
- Thirdly, in goes the cherry tomatoes, a quick saute and now time for all those spices. This is going to thicken up those juices and create intense knock-you-out-of-the-box flavor.
- Lastly, in goes the roasted eggplant. This is starting to smell really good and I can hear my stomach growling!
- Remember to keep stirring, so those flavors have a real chance of getting to know each other!
Beyond luxurious.................
The Baingan Bharta, Indian spiced Eggplant, is really coming together. It is thick and so velvety. I think that eggplant is going to melt in your mouth! Look at all those colors. Does that not make you feel really happy? I know I am feeling it!
Just a few finishing touches..............
All we need to do now is add the coconut milk, a pat of butter, and finish with some fresh chopped parsley. You could use cilantro, it's up to you. Take a look at this, is that not just the most beautiful thing you have ever seen? Warm up that naan, I'm hungry!
I am ready to eat........................
This dish presents so well. Its aroma is enough to entice anyone to eating it. I just have to break off some naan and dunk away! excuse me for a minute................................ WOW, I taste the spices of curry, coriander, cumin, chili. Love how that ginger just sneaks up on you and adds such a twist on flavor. The sauce rich spicy-sweet, perfect to be all soaked up into the hot soft naan.
I can honestly say that my taste buds are doing the happy dance, and as a result, there is such a wonderful smile on my face.
Who says that happiness lies in the food you make for yourself? Oh, wait, I just said that and believe it. Good food, great friends, a wonderful outlook, and foodie enlightenment is within reach.
Looking for something different and exotic? Take those spices out of the pantry and come with me. We can whip this Baingan Bharta, Indian spiced Eggplant!
Get your taste bud dancing shoes on because this dish will definitely make you move it, move it!
Enjoy!
Song of the day: "Jai Ho!" from Slumdog Millionaire.
PrintBaingan Bharta, Indian spiced Eggplant
Baingan Bharta, Indian spiced Eggplant, sultry rich Indian spicy flavors dance with some luscious eggplant, onion, and cherry tomatoes. This dish screams exotic comfort food, and I loved it! I think you will love it too!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: serves 2-4 people 1x
- Category: Main/side
- Method: stovetop/baked
- Cuisine: Indian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
- 8 small Indian eggplant
- 1 small yellow onion sliced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1-inch knob of peeled fresh ginger, grated
- 36 cherry tomatoes
- 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ tsp sesame oil
- 2 tsp crushed coriander
- Pinch of red chili flakes
- 1 tsp each cumin and turmeric
- 1 Tbsp yellow curry powder
- ½ tsp each onion powder, garlic powder.
- ½ cup coconut milk
- salt and white pepper to taste
- 2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley or cilantro
- Some naan, to serve it with
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 400° F (200° C).
- First, rub the eggplant with oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until eggplant is soft on the inside.
- Take out of the oven and let cool. Once cooled, peel the eggplant and put the pulp into a dish.
- In a cast-iron pan bring vegetable oil and sesame oil to med to high heat. Toss in onion, season with salt pepper, onion, and garlic powder, and saute for about 10 minutes.
- Add in tomatoes and stir. Throw in garlic and ginger and start adding the spices of coriander, cumin, turmeric, and curry, plus the chili flakes. Stir well and when the sauce thickens, add coconut milk and cook for about 15 minutes.
- Taste and season with salt and white pepper if needed.
- Warm up naan in the oven
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and this dish is ready to serve with the warm naan.
Enjoy!
Notes
You can use cilantro instead of parsley.
If you like your food hot, add more chili flakes or chili powder.
If you want it to be extra rich, use coconut cream at the end.
P.S. I had some naan and Banigan Bharta left over so I thought 'hey let's make a real Indian naan pizza!'. So I did, look at this..........................
Baingan Bharta Naan Pizza..........................
It was so so amazing!
When I am not cooking, I enjoy playing musical instruments, singing, writing. I have learned over the years to live in gratitude and enjoy the moment.
Millican Pecan says
This is a great recipe! I am so excited to make this! I hope it turns out as well as it looks in your photos. Thank you for sharing.
I have faith in your passion for cooking, and you will do this dish proud because your heart will be in it. It will be fabulous. Don't stress just have fun making it. The rest will fall into place!
Cheers!
Gloria says
What a great way to enjoy eggplant. Perfect as an appetizer. That pizza topping looks amazing. I think I need to make a grilled pizza with this.
Hi Gloria, now your talking my language. Doing this pizza on the grill just adds such flavor to it taking it way over the top. Talk about shut the front door good!
Yummy!
Cheers!
Chef Dennis says
Wow, what a flavorful eggplant dish! I especially love how you served it on the naan bread as a pizza
Thanks Chef. I loved the pizza, so tasty and with that added gooey cheese just made it that more luxurious and pleasurable. After all we would not want that leftover to go to waste. Inconceivable!
Happy cooking!
Carol Borchardt says
I love eggplant so I'm always looking for new recipes for it! Going to give this one a try for sure because Indian is one of my favorite cuisines!
That's wonderful. I am so happy you want to try this recipe and that you enjoy Indian food so much! Send a comment with your feedback on this one. Would love to hear!
Cheers!
Amy says
The smell of Indian food gets me super hungry, too! I feel like I can already smell this dish cooking -- it's got so many awesome flavors, and totally has my mouth watering. 😀 My whole family are big fans of Indian cuisine, and I can't wait to share this with them!
I am right there with you on the aromas of Indian food cooking. I get the same feeling, growling and extreme hunger!, lol. A beautiful thing. Such a vibrant culture!
Have a wonderful day!
Nicole says
I, too, am a huge fan of Indian food, and the flavours in this dish sound incredible. I've never tried an Indian eggplant dish before, though, so I am quite intrigued by this. I'll have to watch for Indian eggplant at my local Indian market next time I'm there.
Hi Nicole, thank you for commenting. I really love reading them. I get so excited when I go to the Indian market. So many things to see, smell, taste and experience! Kind of like a kid in a candy store!
Lol.
Have fun!
Cheers!
Paige says
YUM, this is a great idea and I love eggplant, so this is one I'll be making this summer...it looks amazing!
Thank you Paige, I know you are going to enjoy this dish. So deep in flavor and that texture velvety, creamy, luxurious!
Happy cooking!
Jenny Graves says
This is so good, I recently expressed the need to learn to cook indian food because I love it so much. Got all these amazing spices and was looking for recipes and came upon your fabulous eggplants. They look incredible! What a gift! Thank you so much, I am trying this tonight.
That's wonderful, let me know what you think, and thank you for trying it. I am so grateful!
Cheers!
Heidy says
Your recipe for Baingan Bharta aka Indian spiced Eggplant was so wonderful tasting and so flavorful. I am so glad I tried this recipe because I really enjoyed every bite I took.
I am so grateful that you tried this recipe and enjoyed it. I am smiling from ear to ear!! It is such a wonderful; dish and so deep in flavor and texture!
Thanks again!
Chewers!
Jo says
I'm a huge fan of baingan bharta. With roti it's the best meal one can have.
That's fantastic. Yes with Roti it is a full meal deal and getting all that sauce and eggplant into the Roti then biting in is just plain heavenly!
Thank you for sharing!
Happy cooking!
Natalie says
This recipe sounds so good, so delicious. I recently started eating eggplant again and now I'm on a spree, eating it once a week. I love ginger, and turmeric and cumin in this dish. I will definitely give this a try.
Thank you!, So glad you are on the eggplant kick again. I just love this vegetable. so versatile and delicious. Excited for you to try this recipe!
Have fun masking it, would love to hear your feedback!
Have a great week!
David Buckwalter says
What is “Yellow Curry powder” could anything. Can you supply receipt, qty of spices.