Baingan bharta is a popular North Indian-style smokey roasted eggplant dish with lots of aromatic spices. Serve with hot roti, naan, or paratha. It’s vegan, gluten-free, and takes 30 minutes to prepare. Here, I’m sharing a simple and heartening meal that you can take either in lunch or for dinner or pack in a lunch box for your office. This recipe includes step-by-step instructions and pro-tips to make delicious bharta.
About this Recipe
Baingan Bharta is a popular North Indian dish, made with smoky mashed eggplants (baingan) sauteed in a tangy spiced onion, tomato-based gravy, and a lot of aromatic spices. In Hindi, the word Baingan means eggplant (or aubergine or brinjal) whereas Bharta pronounced as BHURR-taah means where the ingredients are roughly mashed.
It is made with different variations in different regions of India. In Maharashtra, it is called vangyache bharit, in Bihar called chokha, and kathirikai gothsu in Tamil Nadu. The recipe I am sharing today is an Indian-style baingan bharta, popular all around the world.
Baingan Bharta is one of the easiest, quickest and tastiest recipes that you can make from eggplant. In fact, you can make Bharta with all sorts of vegetables, but mashed either before or after the dish is prepared.
I love this baingan ka bharta due to its simplicity and taste because it has a burst of flavors that requires roasting the whole eggplant over the direct fire until soft and smoky and then cooked with onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and lots of aromatic spices.
So, if you have never tried this before, then quickly try this delicious vegetable (sabzi) which tastes amazing and serves hot with parathas, roti, and naan.
Ingredients
To make this easy Baingan ka Bharta, you will need the following ingredients:
- Baingan or eggplant – Select the large purple-colored eggplant with shiny, firm, and glossy skin. Remember, there shouldn’t be any marks or dents over it. Choose the one with a dot at the bottom and not a line. Those are the ones with fewer seeds and therefore have less bitterness.
- Oil – I usually like to prepare in mustard oil, as it is considered very healthy and also adds a beautiful flavor to this dish.
- Green Chilies – You can adjust the number of green chilies as per your taste and spice level.
- Spice Powders –We have used some basic everyday spice powders to enhance the taste such as coriander powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, and for the tempering – nigella seeds.
- Other ingredients – You will also require some basic ingredients such as ginger-garlic, onion, ginger, tomato, and salt to taste. These will enhance the taste of this bharta.
- And finally, fresh green finely chopped coriander leaves which adds a more refreshing taste to this recipe.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve this baingan bharta with any Indian bread like roti, tawa paratha, laccha paratha or missi roti. You can also serve it as a side dish along with the dal-chawal.
You can also fill the leftover bharta in mini tart shells and serve as an appetizer.
Storage Suggestions
Baingan Ka Bharta can be stored in the fridge for 2 to 3 days in an airtight container. Reheat it in a pan or microwave until nice and warm before serving.
So, let’s quickly try this fire-roasted Baingan Bharta Recipe that is loved for its delicious smoky flavor.
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Baingan Bharta
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
Baingan Bharta is a popular spicy North Indian dish, made with roasted eggplants, sautéed with onions, tomatoes, garlic, ginger, and lots of aromatic spices. It is loved for its delicious smoky flavor. This recipe includes few essential tips on how to get a tasty Baingan Bharta Recipe!
Ingredients
To Roast the Eggplant
- 1 large eggplant (baingan)
- 3 garlic cloves
Other Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 teaspoon nigella seeds (kalonji)
- 1 medium Onion finely chopped
- 2 tomatoes finely chopped
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 1 inch ginger piece grated
- 1–2 green chilli finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
- ¼ teaspoon garam masala (optional)
- 2 tablespoons coriander leaves chopped
Instructions
To Roast the Eggplant (baingan)
- Wash nicely baingan (eggplant).
- Pat dry the eggplant with a clean kitchen towel.
- Cut each garlic clove into halves.
- Make 6-8 slits in eggplant and insert the halved garlic cloves inside each slit.
- Now keep this on the direct flame for 8-10 minutes.
- Roast the eggplant on the direct flame and roast it by rotating it every 1-2 minutes from all the sides until the skin is blackened and soft from inside.
- (Make sure, while roasting; keep turning it every 2-3 minutes to make sure it’s roasted well on all sides.
- Check it by inserting a knife or fork in it, whether it is roasted completely or not. The knife should go inside the pulp easily.
- If it is not roasted well, roast it for a few more minutes to cook properly.
- Once the baingan is roasted evenly from all sides, cover it with aluminum foil.
- Keep aside and allow it to cool for a few minutes.
- Remove the blackened skin of baingan and dip it into the water to get rid of any extra burnt bits.
- Take out from the water, cut off the stem and chop it finely or mash it.
How to make Bharta
- Heat oil in a pan, add nigella seeds.
- Saute it for few seconds.
- Then add ginger garlic. Stir fry for 30 seconds until the raw smell goes away.
- Add chopped chillies. Stir well.
- Add the chopped onions. Fry until the onions are are soft and translucent.
- Add the tomatoes. Mix well.
- Cook with adding red chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric, and salt.
- Mix everything well.
- Cover and cook until they become soft and pulpy.
- Add the baingan pulp.
- Give a good mix. Cover and cook for another 3-4 minutes while stirring occasionally.
- Add chopped coriander leaves and garam masala over the bharta.
- Serve hot with naan, roti, or other bread.
Notes
- For this recipe, you can use a large purple variety baingan (eggplant). If you use a small variety of eggplant doesn’t have the same taste and texture.
- Instead of roasting eggplant over the flame, you can also roast the baingan into the oven but the taste will differ. You can roast in an oven at 200C for 45-50 minutes. If you want to get the smoky flavor in this bharta dish, roast the eggplant on the stovetop and not into the oven.
- While roasting, adding garlic cloves inside each slit of eggplant gives a very delicious flavor to this bharta.
- It is best to use mustard oil in this recipe, but you can also cook the bharta in any vegetable oil.
- Additionally, you can go with the Dhungar method. It increases the smoky flavor to the bharta dish.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Indian, North Indian
