Roasted eggplant curry is one of our favorite Indian curries. Eggplant is one of those things that not everyone likes. My husband and daughter are not happy to have eggplant in other forms, but they sure love this curry. When it is roasted and cooked in this way, it becomes creamy and delicious. Try it for yourself to see what I mean.

The Ingredients for the Roasted Eggplant Curry:

Just the usual Indian spices are what I use for this Indian recipe.

Ingredient List for Baingan Bharta:

2 large Italian eggplants
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
1 large red onion
3 garlic cloves
1-inch ginger
1 green chili (optional)
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 tablespoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon red chili powder (or paprika for less spice)
Salt to taste
1/2 cup tomato puree (or two whole tomatoes)
1 cup green peas

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Roasting the Eggplants

Let’s start by roasting the aubergine. It’s very easy to roast or bake them. Using a fork, poke some holes into the fruit. It has a lot of moisture and this allows for steam to escape as it bakes.

If using an oven, bake it for about 1/2 hour at 400 degrees. Flip it once to allow even cooking. If roasting it on a barbecue, heat the barbecue to 400 degrees and keep it covered as it cooks. Keep an eye on it and flip it once, again to allow for even cooking.

Once baked or roasted, allow it to cool down completely. As it cools, the skin will wrinkle and that’s what you want to see. It means the vegetable is well cooked inside. Once cooled peel off the skin and chop off the head and discard. Using a fork, mash the pulp and set it aside for later use. Sometimes it will ooze liquid as it cools. Do not discard that liquid. It’s a good liquid that we can use in the curry.

Making the Masala for the Indian Curry

Chop your onion, garlic, ginger, and green chili finely. In a large pan, heat the oil, and add the whole cumin seeds. Allow them to pop for a couple of minutes. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and green chili to the pan. Cook for about 4-5 minutes to allow the onions to soften.

Once the onions have softened, add the garam masala, cumin powder, coriander powder, turmeric, red chili powder, and salt to the pan. Mix and cook for a few seconds to allow the spices to mingle.

Adding the Tomatoes

Add the tomato puree and cook for about 1 minute. If the puree is too thick, you can add 2 tablespoons of water. If you are using fresh tomatoes, finely chop and add at this step. You need to cook the tomatoes until they have totally softened. Once the tomatoes are cooked through, we are ready to add the mashed eggplant to the pan and mix the eggplant well into the spice mixture. If there was any liquid that oozed out, add it to the pan as well.

Lower the heat, cover the pan and allow it to cook for about 2 minutes. Remove the lid and stir the contents to ensure that the curry is not burning. Without covering the pan, continue to cook for about 10 -12 minutes, stirring constantly to ensure that the eggplant doesn’t burn from the bottom.

At this point, we are ready to add the green peas to the pan. Green peas don’t take too long to cook, so once you add them to the pan, you just need to cook the curry for a further 2 or so minutes. This is just to allow the green peas to soften a little.

Serving Suggestions:

Enjoy the roasted eggplant Indian curry hot with:

a side of fresh home made naan or roti.
we usually enjoy it with a side of raita as well (Indian yogurt with fresh cucumber).
it goes really well with some fresh basmati rice.

Tried and Liked the Recipe?

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