Eggplant, Indian style

Every time I go to Taste of India, I look over the entire menu and consider trying a new dish. The aloo gabhi (fresh cauliflower and sauteed potatoes stir-fried with ginger and mild spices) always sounds good, tandori chicken is an old favorite, and I have a hard time passing up lamb anything.

But ever since my vegetarian friends Eric & Noel introduced me to baingan bharta during a dinner outing there last year, it's hard to seriously consider anything else. I'm hooked. I love the rich, warm, meaty flavor of this eggplant curry. Plus, it's healthier than the creamy meat curries on the menu, but just as satisfying. Now, suggest Indian food, and this is the dish that I start craving.

This week, that nice, big shiny eggplant from the CSA inspired my husband to try to recreate my favorite Indian restaurant dish for me. Within one bite, we declared the recipe a winner. It's not the same as the restaurant version, but it was a really good do-it-yourself version, and you can bet we'll be trying it again, probably with a few minor tweaks.

I'm a big fan of eggplant, but I think this is a great recipe for folks who've tried it in other forms and didn't care for it. (I promise, like most Indian food, it tastes much better than it looks.)

Baingan Bharta

Makes 4 servings

1 large eggplant

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste

1 tablespoon curry powder

1 tomato, diced

1/2 cup plain yogurt

1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, finely chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 bunch cilantro, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Place eggplant on a medium baking sheet. Bake 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until tender. Remove from heat, cool, peel, and chop.

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Mix in cumin seeds and onion. Cook and stir until onion is tender.

Mix ginger garlic paste, curry powder, and tomato into the saucepan, and cook about 1 minute. Stir in yogurt. Mix in eggplant and jalapeno pepper, and season with salt. Cover, and cook 10 minutes over high heat. Remove cover, reduce heat to low, and continue cooking about 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro to serve.

Notes: Since we didn't have any ginger-garlic paste, we substituted minced fresh garlic and ginger. Also, we only used half of a jalapeno.

Source: Allrecipes