We are blessed right now to have eggplants coming out of our ears!!! So…I invoked this recipe from my repertoire. This recipe is a slight twist on the many variations of Indian dish Baingan Bharta.
All Baingan Bharta recipes have many ingredients in common: eggplant, onions, tomatoes, ginger, pepper and garlic. Many add garam masala, coriander, turmeric, etc. I learned to make this during my very first vegan phase in my early early 20’s. To make it heartier (more protein) I started adding chickpeas, and to counterbalance the heat in it, I favored adding a few plump raisins at the end. So in reality it is a bit far from any Baingan Bharta you would order at an authentic Indian restaurant, but in my opinion mo betta!
Recipe for Indian spiced eggplant (Baingan Bharta) with chickpeas and raisins
Servings: 4+ (~1 cup each)
Ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 medium size eggplants
- 1-2 medium-large tomatoes (chopped fine)
- 1 large onion (chopped fine)
- 1 Hawaiian chili pepper (chopped fine)
- tablespoon chopped garlic
- 2 inch (½ in diameter or so) piece of ginger, grated
- 1 inch(¼ inch diameter or so) piece of turmeric grated
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon garam masala
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup raisins
- 1 and ½ cup (or to liking) cooked chickpeas
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lay eggplant on baking sheet, pierce eggplant to help let out steam.
- Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes and then turn over. Bake another 15 minutes or so until a knife enters easily skin starts to separate from the flesh of the eggplant
- Once cooled peel eggplant and roughly chop and mush
- Heat oil in large sauté pan (med-high heat) and add onions until they start to become soft, stirring very often
- Add ginger, garlic, and turmeric and stir constantly for less than 1 minute
- Add tomatoes, cumin, and garam masala and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for a time until tomatoes incorporate themselves into onions mixture.
- Add eggplant and mush a bit with your spatula or mixing spoon, allow to heat up and cook another 5 minutes or so on medium heat.
- For the last 5 minutes add chickpeas and raisins.
- Enjoy warm with rice, alone, over greens, or with naan, etc.
