The Deccan Plateau has gifted the world with some amazing culinary delights. One of the most popular and super delicious is the Bagara Baingan. The very thought of this dish is enough to make tongues drool and eyes to mist in nostalgia.
My earliest memory was of my aunt Saroja making this dish. She was my mom’s sister – younger by almost a decade. The story goes that it was my mother that took Saroja to kindergarten to enroll her in school. My grandmother was, I guess, too busy raising her family of 8 kids. So, my mom became her de facto mother figure. The sisters remained super close all their life.
Saroja, in her childhood, was stricken by polio which left her right hand completely useless and her leg severely disabled. However, she was gifted with an amazingly brave soul, a ready laugh on her lips and a witty tongue. She was the one that taught me that disabilities were nothing to be shunned. She would let me examine her withered arm in the minutest detail and happily answer all my child’s curiosity questions. I learnt to enjoy the old Bollywood songs, not just for their melody, but by paying attention to their lyrics.
With one arm and barely a leg and half, Saroja churned out the most delicious dishes from scratch. Bagara Baingan was one of my favorites at her kitchen table. This recipe is a tribute to a wonderful aunt and teacher who left us 11 years ago.
Hyderabadi Bagara Baingan
When I left India for the United States, my mom and Saroja wrote out several recipes. They were my “survival” foods. Recipes to make Sambar, Idli, Dosa, and different curries. Of course, my favorite Bagara Baingan recipe had to come along. While Saroja reeled off the recipe with approximate measurements (mom/aunts never cooked with precise measurements), my cousin Priya (you will enjoy her Fruit Parade and Veggie Parade rhymes) wrote this recipe on this tiny raggedy piece of paper and I’ve carefully preserved it for the last 30 years! I guess it was high time that I published this recipe, eh?
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- My Aunt Saroja
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- A 30-year-old recipe sheet!
It is easy to be hooked on to this dish. It is utterly delicious. Seriously delicious. You can eat it with Jeera Rice or with Methi Parathas. If you want to make a Hyderabadi feast, I’d suggest you go with Hyderabadi Biryani (this is a chicken recipe, but you can make this vegetarian too), Michi ka Salan and Egg Curry.
Known as the King of Vegetables (due to the crown-like top), the purple in eggplants are loaded with nutrition. The purple in eggplants and the red in tomatoes contain antioxidants and anthocyanins which helps improve brain health, lower inflammation, protect the eyes, fight infections and fight cancer and heart disease. Coconut brings in healthy fats, while various wonderful herbs and spices carry healing benefits.
Eggplant Recipes
No surprises. We LOVE eggplants! Do try a few of my favorites:
- Delish Bell Pepper and Eggplant Sauté
- Baingan Bartha- Roasted Eggplant Curry
- Fresh Fenugreek Eggplant Sauté
- Vegan, Spicy Baked Eggplant
- Roasted Eggplant & Tomato Chutney
- Broad Bean Eggplant Sauté
- Eggplant Potato Spicy Medley
- Baba Ghanoush
- Spicy Cilantro Ginger Eggplant Sauté
- Spicy, Tangy, Stuffed Eggplant
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Bagara Baingan
Ingredients
- 1 Lb. Eggplant - The purple, small-round kind
- 1 Teaspoon Himalayan Pink Salt - Or to taste
- 3/4 Teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- 1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper - Freshly ground
- 1 Tablespoon Cilantro - Finely chopped
Masala Ingredients:
- 6 Teaspoons Sesame Seeds - White variety
- 4 Teaspoons Poppy Seeds - White variety
- 3 Teaspoons Coriander Seeds - Whole
- 1.5 Teaspoons Cumin Seeds
- 2 Teaspoons Avocado Oil
- 1 Teaspoon Ginger - Finely chopped
- 1 Teaspoon Garlic - Finely chopped
- 1 Cup Onion - Fine cut
- 1/2 Cup Tomato - Roughly chopped
- 1/4 Cup Grated Coconut - Frozen or Fresh
- 1 Tablespoon Tamarind - Soak and remove juice
- 1/2 Teaspoon Red Chili Powder - Or to taste
- 1/2 Teaspoon Garam Masala - Or to taste. Make your own Garam Masala
Instructions
- Wash small, round variety brinjal/eggplant and slit each into 4 or 6 parts (depending on the size) making sure that the eggplant pieces remain attached to their stalk. You can also cut them into quarters if you want to discard the stalk.
Bagara Baingan Masala:
- Wash and soak tamarind in water. Extract the juice and compost the pulp.
- Dry roast sesame seeds, poppy seeds, coriander seeds and cumin seeds until they are slightly browned and fragrant. Grind to a fine powder using a spice blender.
- In the same pan, heat oil. Add minced ginger and garlic. Sauté until lightly browned. Add onions and roast until translucent. Add this mix to a blender.
- Along with the onions, add powdered spices from the first step, tomatoes, tamarind juice and grated coconut. Blend until smooth. Add a tiny bit of water if needed, if the moisture content of the tomatoes and tamarind juice is not sufficient.
- Transfer the blended masala into the pan. Add salt, red chili powder, garam masala, turmeric powder and freshly grated black pepper. Cook the gravy for a couple of minutes. Gently lower the slit eggplants into the gravy.
- Cover with lid and cook on a medium-low flame. Gently rotate the eggplants every couple of minutes so they absorb the gravy and cook evenly. Turn off the heat when the eggplants are fully cooked but not mushy (you may need to poke a fork and check once in a while).
- Garnish with finely chopped cilantro/coriander leaves before serving.
Loved eating this at your place Malthy . So tasty and flavorful! hard to give a good flavor to Brinjal , cuz it’s not a tasty veggie by itself in my opinion, but your spices definitely did the job.. in a great way:)
On my list to cook next.
Thanks for this great twist to an otherwise bland veggie
Glad you enjoyed it Shu. Hope you will try it out in your kitchen soon.