Baingan Bharta

Baingan bharta is a super simple & delicious Punjabi dish which has lovely smokey flavour from the roasted eggplant. This lip smacking dish goes very well with roti and rice.

Ingredients - Serves 4

• Large eggplant - 1 no
• Chopped onion - 1 cup
• Chopped tomatoes  - 1 cup
• Green peas - 1/2 cup
• Grated ginger - 1 tblsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Red chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
• Garam masala - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
• Coriander leaves few
• Oil - 2 tblsp
• Salt to taste

Method

• Pre-heat the oven at 350 degree
• Apply little oil evenly on the eggplant  and place it on the baking try - bake it for 45 minutes or until it is done
• Once eggplant is done, take it out, let it cool a little and then peel off the skin (it will come off very easily)

• Chop the flesh and keep aside
• Heat rest of the oil in a pan and add cumin seeds when it pops add onions
• Cook till the onions turn translucent
• Now add  ginger and saute for a minute
• Add tomatoes and cook till the oil separates from the mixture (don’t forget to keep stirring,  tomatoes tend to burn fast)
• Add garam masala, turmeric powder, coriander powder, red chili powder and mix well
• Add eggplant cubes and mash it well
• Add peas and required salt, mix and cover the pan and let it cook
• Once it starts boiling , it is ready
• Garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with roti or rice

Tip - You can also use stove top / flame to roast the eggplant

Nutritional Information

• Eggplant is very low in calories and fats but is rich in soluble fibre content
• Purple eggplant has significant amount of antioxidants that help protect against ageing, cancer and inflammation
• Per serving = 130 calories approximately