Baingan Barta
From: "Phil Sego" <phil @ philsego . com>
Newsgroups: rec.food.cuisine.jewish
Subject: ‘Baingan Barta” – a
passover eggplant dish from
Date: Fri, 10 Mar 2006 13:02:19 CST
I've been on this Indian kick for a while (too long in my wife's opinion).
Baingan Barta very easy to make. It's essentially mashed roast
eggplant --
and would be a nice seder
side dish. It's usually vegan.
1
large eggplant
1 medium onion
(finely chopped)
1
large tomato
(finely cut)
1/2
teaspoon turmeric
powder
1
teaspoon garam masala
1
pinch hing/asafoetida powder (optional)
salt to taste
cilantro (finely chopped)
1. Grille
or roast the eggplant until it begins to get mushy. On my grille, that's 15 minutes. In a 400-degree oven, it's likely to take 45
minutes.
2. Let
it cool.
3. Fry
the onions till it turns to golden color. Put turmeric powder, garam
masala, hing powder, salt
and tomatoes.
4. Fry
for some more time until the tomatoes are mashed.
5. Remove
the outer skin of the baked eggplant and mash it with the hand or grind it in
the mixture for fine texture.
6. When
the tomatoes are done, add the eggplant mixture to it and boil it for
some more time. That's all. Your baingan barta is ready.
7. Before
serving, garnish it with fresh coriander leaves.
Normally this is served with rice,
but farfel or just plain matzoh would be fine.
Those who prepare a lot of Indian
dishes could go on and on about garam masala recipes. These vary tremendously; it's said
that every Indian cook's recipe is different -- and closely guarded. Hing is a vile-smelling mineral-like substance. I
don't recommend buying it for just one dish. It's most useful with lentil dishes for a
variety of reasons.