Baigan ka bharta

Good to be back sharing another recipe and this time from North Indian basket! Yes, one of the most cherished take away from my 17 years in Delhi are the recipes of some of their interesting dishes. Am surely not a master of it but can make some of those dishes decently. Here is the recipe for 'baigan ka bharta' - a very popular dry curry taken with rotis. 

Ingredients:

1. Brinjal - 1 BIG Sized (either they are fat & longer or far & rounder)
2. Onion - 1 medium sized, finely chopped
3. Tomato - 4-5, finely chopped
4. Ginger - finely chopped 
5. Green chillies - 4-5 finely chopped
6. Cumin (jeera)- 1 tspn
7. Turmeric powder - a pinch
8. Dhaniya powder - 1 tspn
9. Chilli powder - 1 tspn (based on ur taste)
10. Aamchoor - 1 or 2 pinches (based on how ripened / khatta tomatoes are)
    
11. Salt to taste
12. Oil to cook

Method

1. To the brinjal, apply oil on all sides including the stem. The specialty of this dish is the brinjal needs to be roasted and mashed. To do so, place the oiled brinjal on the burner and on low flame. Keep turning and cooking till all the skin on the eggplant is charred and the inner flesh looks really soft. A good sign to watch for is that the eggplant seems to 'cave in' on itself! 
2. Place the roasted brinjal in a bowl of water to cool it down. Peel the skin.
3. Coarsely mash the flesh with the seeds (discard seeds if they are ripened & hard)
4. In a pan, add 2 tbspn of cooking oil. When hot, add cumin seeds and wait till they splutter.
5. To this, add chillies, ginger and fry for a few seconds
6. Next, add onions and fry till soft
7. Add tomatoes and ensure you break the tomatoes nicely
8. To this mix, add the spices mentioned along with salt and cook for 3-5 mts. Keep stirring the mix (Only if rqd, just sprinkle a little water - mostly won't be rqd)
9. When cooked, add the brinjal mash and mix well. Break & ensure they all mix together. Cook for 1-2 mts max.
10. Garnish with coriander leaves (avoid curry leaves because that usually tends to give a south-indian dish flavor)

Hot Bharta ready to serve with hot rotis. You can accompany this with a dhal variety, pickle, and curd.

 
 
Note: Bharta refers to dishes with ingredients that are coarsely mashed. You can make bhartas out of any kind of vegetables that taste good when mashed.