smoked eggplant curry | baingan ka bharta | vegan roasted aubergine recipe

24 Mar smoked eggplant curry | baingan ka bharta | vegan roasted aubergine recipe

Last Updated on May 24, 2021 by blessmyfoodbypayal

 Smoked eggplant curry | baingan ka bharta | vegan roasted aubergine recipe with step wise pictorial and video method.

smoked eggplant curry | baingan ka bharta | vegan roasted aubergine recipe is the authentic indian method of making eggplants.

Know about eggplant, baingan, aubergine & brinjal 

 

before proceeding ahead, let it be made clear that eggplant, baingan & aubergine are not different things. baingan is the hindi term for english words eggplant, aubergine & brinjal. eggplant or baingan are oftenly cooked in Indian kitchens, especially northern part & more particularly, this recipe hails from punjab.

What is baingan Ka bhartha?

 

eggplant curry is simple term easily understandable but what is baingan ka bhartha, hindi term for cooked eggplant?

baingan means eggplant, as already said and bhartha means mashed. so whenever the eggplants (baingan) are cooked by mashing them, that recipe is termed as baingan (eggplant) ka bhartha (curry).

What makes eggplant curry “smoked”?

 

pointing out towards the word smoked (eggplant curry), this is one step ahead after cooking eggplant curry wherein the smoke from the charcoal (koyla) is infused in the curry.

the smoke makes the curry most flavourful and lipsmacking.

however this part of infusing smoke is purely optional & you can stop your cooking process once eggplant curry is ready. but in such a case, your recipe is roasted eggplant curry and not smoked eggplant curry.

there are two stages when you can smoke your eggplant. one, when the eggplants are just mashed after roasting but yet to be cooked & secondly when the curry is completely ready, as I have done in this case. you can make your own choice.

Right method to roast eggplants

 

coming to the word “roasted”, this recipe of smoked eggplant curry /baingan ka bhartha is made by roasting the eggplants at the beginning stage.

There are two ways of roasting eggplants. one in the oven & second on gas stove top.

once I have made smoked eggplant curry / baingan ka bhartha after roasting in the oven but it didn’t have that peculiar flavour which a roasted cooking usually have, although the eggplants were perfectly roasted. thereafter I never roasted eggplants on oven & only on the gas stove, the process you will learn in the method section below.

but for any reason you have decided to roast eggplants in oven then don’t skip one important step. do line the baking tray with butter paper properly because roasting will leave some stains on your baking tray which will be extremely hard to get away. I have suffered through the same once.

so to sum up, this is the recipe of eggplants/baingan which are first “roasted”, then “mashed” & finally “smoked”.

before proceeding for the recipe, you need to know few important things which you are supposed to know to make smoked eggplant curry perfectly.

Choosing the eggplants/baingan :

 

there are different types of eggplants available in the market varying from colour to shape and size. mark it that *not* every kind of eggplant is eligible to make this smoked eggplant curry.

To make this recipe, you need eggplants which are dark purple, round (or some times slightly oval) & big in size. these are known as indian or american eggplants. here’s the picture below :

while purchasing, make sure that they don’t have any hole or open space in them. don’t buy an eggplant having an hole/space because it’s a sign that such eggplant has a worm inside.

Also choose the eggplant which is light in weight because such eggplants have fewer seeds in comparison to heavy eggplants.

i just love baingan ka bhartha but rarely cooks it at home.

I won’t be able to give you the genuine reason but I love baingan Ka bhartha only made by my mother. so whenever I feel like eating it, I just give a call to my mom & next you can guess. bhartha reaches me in no time. that’s why there’s no comparison to mothers.

whenever i cook myself, i cook baingan Ka bhartha with lots of spices including ginger & garlic whereas my mother adds very few spices and no ginger and garlic.

Actually ginger and garlic, apart from flavour, provide the requisite warmth to your food being a hot natured food items. but eggplant in itself a warm natured food so she doesn’t add ginger and garlic in it.

I followed her recipe & it came out awesome. however adding ginger garlic is your personal choice. furthermore, no use of any of the dairy products make it vegan too.

so sharing with you the lip smacking recipe of smoked eggplant curry or baingan Ka bhartha borrowed from my mother.

look for one more vegan recipe made with small eggplants named as Bharva baingan.

have a look at other sides dishes like nadru yakhni, Arbi ki sukhi Sabzi, methi chaman, Lehsuni palak,  khoya paneer, chilli paneer, Mughlai Shahi Paneer Korma and mushroom do pyaza restaurant style.

 

Stepwise pictorial method of making smoked eggplant curry

1. wash eggplants properly & clean and dry them with some kitchen towel.

2. apply mustard oil on the eggplants either using your fingers or cooking brush.

3. switch on the gas stove to low & place a roaster on gas stove.

4. arrange the eggplants on roaster & let them roast.

5. keep turning them after short intervals either by holding them from their stem or using tong, so that they get roasted evenly from all sides.

6. their skin will start receiving cracks & eggplants will turn mushy inside. check it by inserting a knife in each eggplant. if the knife slides into eggplant easily without any resistance, your eggplants are properly roasted.

7. transfer them to some plate & let them turn cool a bit.

8. now arrange onions and tomatoes on the roaster & start roasting them on low flame.

9. likewise keep turning their sides so that they get roasted evenly from all sides. while roasting, their skin will get black sports of burning, but no issues.

10. once onions and tomatoes turn soft and mushy, transfer them on some plate.

11. start removing the skin of eggplants and also cut their stem part once they turn slightly cool.

12. chop them finely using the knife. alternatively you can use potato masher.

13. likewise remove the skin of onions and tomatoes. you can wash them if too much of burnt skin is stick to them.

14. cut the onion & chop the tomatoes finely.

15. now take a kadai & add mustard oil in it. you can use any other oil too used in cooking.

16. let the mustard oil burn first. when fumes begin to come out and oil turns little light in colour and thickness, it is ready. the difference in the colour of oil in both the pictures is clearly seen. switch off the flame and let the temperature of oil come little down.

17. add cumin seeds and let them crackle.

18. add green chilli and give a stir.

19. add onion & saute it until turns golden brown.

20. add tomatoes and mix.

21. add salt, red chilli powder and turmeric powder. mix

22. cover the kadai with a lid and let tomatoes cook for 10 minutes.

23. after 10 minutes, you will find the oil separating from tomatoes & tomatoes will start leaving the sides.

24. add mashed eggplants & mix well.

25. add coriander powder and coriander leaves and finely mix. let them roast in kadai too for 10 minutes on low flame.

26. your eggplant curry / baingan Ka bhartha is ready. time to make it smoked.

27. remove the Kadai from gas stove and place a small metallic bowl in the center of the kadai.

30. place roaster on gas stove, keep a small piece of charcoal on it and let the charcoal burn properly by turning red hot.

31. with the help of tong, place this burning charcoal in the bowl.

32. pour few drops of oil over the burning charcoal.

33. when the smoke will start emitting, immediately cover the kadai with a lid and led smoke confined within for 1 to 2 minutes.

34. removed bowl from kadai.

your smoked eggplant curry is ready. enjoy with rice or chapati.

NOTES

1. If you like, you can add ginger garlic paste & saute before adding the onion.
2. As mentioned earlier too, smoking process is optional and you can cherish baingan Ka bhartha immediately after it is cooked.
3. We have roasted onions and tomatoes also on gas stove. you can skip their roasting and can add directly, after chopping finely, while cooking.

Smoked eggplant curry – recipe card