Hyderabadi Bagara Baingan

Brinjal or Kathirikkai or Eggplant or Baingan happens to be one of my favorite vegetable.

My love for this vegetable grew  more as I started knowing its versatility as it lends itself to many dishes. Almost every cuisine in the world uses brinjal and they apply various different cooking techniques -roasted, deep-fried, sautéed, grilled, baked, mashed, stuffed…everything works with this vegetable. I got introduced to Bagara Baingan by my sister-in-law and love this dish.

 The vibrant gravy has a rich and unique flavor. It is spicy, tangy and nutty with a hint of sweetness, and tastes good on its own that you’d lick off the plate.

The ingredient list might seems long but most of them are roasted and ground to thick paste.

Ingredients:

Purple baby brinjals washed + quartered with stalk intact	6
Small lemon size tamarind extract	1
Oil	2 Tbsp.
Grated Jaggery	¼ Tbsp.
Ginger paste	1 Tsp.
Asafoetida	½ Tsp.
Turmeric powder	1  Tsp.
Khari leaves	Few sprigs
Coriander leaves	For garnish

Dry Roast:

White sesame seeds (till)	1 Tsp
Coriander seeds/dhaniya	1 Tsp.
Jeera	1 Tsp.
Copra powder/Coconut powder	1 Tsp.
Garam masala (whole/akka) Cardamom, cinnamon, cloves	2 each

  Roast with Oil

Peanuts	2 Tbsp.
Red chilies	3
Medium size onion	1

Method:

Fry the brinjals in 1 Tbsp. oil until soft but still hold their shape and drain aside.

In the same oil roast peanuts, red chilies and onions for a minute separately. Also dry roast all the ingredients mentioned above separately. Then grind all of the above wet and the dry ingredients with some water into a smooth paste.

 In another pan, sauté bay leaf, jeera, ginger paste, asafoetida, turmeric, Khari leaves, with 1 tbsp. ghee for a minute, and add the ground paste to this mixture.

Keep stirring constantly for 5 minutes, with the lid on as gravy splatters outside until oil oozes out. Now add tamarind extract, salt, red chili powder, grated jaggery and let it come to a boil for 2-3 minutes. Finally, add brinjal and cook for 10 minutes on low flame until you get a thick consistency.

Garnish with coriander leaves before serving.

This spicy tangy dish pairs well with biryani or coconut milk rice.