Baingan Bharta

Oh, I love eggplant! It is one of my favorite veggies. It has to be cooked right though. I usually have an eggplant dish when eating at a Thai or Indian restaurant. Of course they use lots of oil or coconut milk to make it tasty. 

Baingan Bharta is a Punjabi dish from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh cuisines. Even though is a vegetarian dish, those cuisines use lots of heavy cream or yogurt. To make it vegan, I used almond yogurt.

I made this dish milder and healthier... still delicious!

Ingredients:

  •     2 large eggplant
  •     2 tbsp neutral oil (avoid this for WFPB diet using broth instead)
  •     1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  •     1/2 medium onion, finely sliced  
  •     1-1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
  •     1-1/2 tsp curry powder
  •     1/2 tomato, diced
  •     1/4 cup plain non-dairy yogurt
  •     1/4 mild chili pepper
  •     cilantro for garnish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450F and place eggplants on a medium baking sheet. Bake them 20-30 minutes until tender. Remove from heat, cool, peel, and chop.

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

If you are not able to find ginger garlic paste, you can make it your own. In the food processor combine equal amounts of ginger and garlic. With the motor running add olive oil to smooth the process of blending.

Mix ginger garlic paste, curry powder, and tomato into the saucepan and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in yogurt. Mix eggplant and chili pepper. Cover and cook for about 10-15 minutes over medium heat. Remove cover, reduce heat to low and continue cooking for about 5-10 more minutes.

Garnish with cilantro and serve over brown rice.

Serves: 3

Enjoy!