Baingan Bharta

The aubergine is charred whole over a flame until the skin blackens, and that smoke is the dish.

Vegan.

Ingredients

• 2 large aubergines, about 900 g
• 3 onions, finely chopped
• 400 g tomatoes, chopped
• 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste
• 2 green chillies, sliced
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon ground red chilli
• 3 tablespoons mustard oil, or a neutral oil
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• juice of 1 lime
• 30 g coriander leaves, chopped

Method

1. THE AUBERGINE IS CHARRED WHOLE OVER A FLAME UNTIL THE SKIN BLACKENS, AND THAT SMOKE IS THE DISH. Its article gives the method and the reason together: cooking the aubergine over charcoal, inside a tandoor, on a barbecue or an oven, or even by applying flame directly to the outside, INFUSES THE DISH WITH A SMOKY FLAVOUR, and the blackened skin is then easily peeled. Roasted in a covered dish or fried in cubes you get a perfectly pleasant mashed aubergine with no smoke in it at all, which is a different thing wearing the same name.
2. IT GOES DIRECTLY ON THE FLAME, NOT IN A PAN. A gas ring on full, the whole aubergine straight on the burner, turned with tongs every few minutes for fifteen to twenty. The skin should go black and papery and the whole thing should collapse.
3. IT IS DONE WHEN IT SAGS AND HISSES, NOT WHEN IT LOOKS BLACK. Black skin over a firm inside means the outside burnt before the middle cooked. Press it: it should give completely.
4. SLIT IT AND LET IT DRAIN BEFORE PEELING. Ten minutes cut-side down in a colander. Aubergine holds a surprising amount of bitter water and all of it would end up in the pan.
5. IT IS MASHED OR MINCED, WHICH ITS ARTICLE ALLOWS BOTH. Mashed with a fork gives a rough, stringy texture; minced with a knife gives a finer one. Not blended -- a food processor makes a puree and loses the point.
6. THE ONIONS ARE BROWNED, WHICH ITS ARTICLE SPECIFIES. Browned, not softened. Twelve minutes. In a dish with this much smoke in it, pale onions taste of nothing.
7. THE TOMATOES COOK DOWN BEFORE THE AUBERGINE GOES IN. Until the fat separates. Then the aubergine, and only eight or ten minutes more.
8. MUSTARD OIL IS ONE CHOICE AND ITS ARTICLE IS HONEST ABOUT IT. It notes mustard oil is used where it is popular, though it has a powerful flavour and aroma, and that most cooks use a neutral high-smoke-point oil. Both work and they taste quite different; this page takes the mustard oil and says so.
9. LIME, CORIANDER AND RAW GREEN CHILLI GO ON AT THE END. Its article lists all three as the topping, off the heat.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under India · All recipes