Every stood in front of an eggplant display in a grocery store with no idea which one to pick? Happens ALL the time. Even with years of experience, you might pick up what you think is a good one, come home, split it open, and find it’s all messed up from inside.
It can be tricky to buy eggplant. This vegetable is a stunner in many ways, being versatile, easy to make and gives a wide range of choice when creating dishes.
Back in India, my Dad always told me to buy eggplant that was light for its size. It meant that the flesh was tight inside and the eggplant had not gotten heavy with seeds.
I followed the same formula in US, and found just the opposite. Then I read somewhere that one needs to buy an eggplant that is heavy for its size.
Oh well! So much confusion. I do find that the latter is true, but years of conditioning always leaves me asking myself – is it going to be a good one?
I cook a lot of eggplant. One of the easiest, and the yummiest recipes from Indian heartland is ‘baingan bharta’ or fireroasted, mashed and cooked eggplant flavored with fragrant spices.
Sadly though, my husband can get a strange allergic reaction to roasted eggplant. While I love the roasted bharta, for him I do not roast it. I cook it first and then mash it. The flavors come out rocking.
- 1 large eggplant cubed into 1" pieces
- ¼ tsp cumin seeds
- 3 medium size onions finely sliced
- 1 cup ripe tomatoes chopped
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 3-4 thai green chilies
- 1 heaped tsp coriander powder
- ¼ tsp amchur powder
- 1 tsp red chili powder
- 4 tbsp mustard/olive oil
- cilantro leaves chopped to garnish
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- Salt to taste
- Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan.
- Sputter cumin seeds and 1 green chili.
- Fry the onions until transluscent
- Add the chopped eggplant and stir well.
- At this point, add salt, stir on high, lower the flame and cook. Eggplant initially soak in a lot of oil, so cooking them on lower flame will help release the oil back once they start to soften.
- Stir in ginger garlic paste.
- Make a paste of coriander, red chili power and amchur powder with ¼ cup of water.
- Pour the paste over the eggplant, and keep cooking.
- Stir and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring them every now and then to prevent them from sticking onto the pan.
- Once the eggplant is soft, add tomatoes.
- Let them soften, and then using a flat heavy spatula, start mashing the eggplant in the pan.
- It will get nicely browned and mashed.
- Once the eggplant looks smooth and done, add chopped green chillies, lemon juice and few drops of mustard oil (optional). Stir once.
- Serve hot with roti.
So tell me dear reader, do you buy eggplant that feel heavy for their size? Is there something else that tells you that this is the eggplant to buy?
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