Baingan Bharta – Smoky, Oven-Roasted Eggplant Curry
Baingan Bharta, translated to mashed eggplant, is a smoky eggplant (aubergine) curry popular in Indian and Pakistani (particularly Punjabi) cuisine. Enter your email below and get it sent straight to your inbox. Plus, get recipes & tips every week! Traditionally, our ancestors would roast eggplants over an open fire or in a tandoor to get the skin charred all around. But you don’t need an open fire or even a grill. You can achieve the same, smoky flavor using your oven! More Restaurant Favorite Vegetarian Curries: Aloo Baingan (Potato & Eggplant Curry), Rajma (Kidney Bean Curry), Matar Paneer Out of all the vegetarian curry recipes on my blog, this Baingan Bharta is my husband’s favorite. Yes, even more than Zucchini curry which is, you know, his recipe.
A Few Notes on the Ingredients
Eggplants – Select small to medium globe variety eggplants that weigh around 1000 g in total. Here’s a quick guide on choosing eggplants. Ghee and Oil – I love mixing both to get the fluidity of the oil and taste of ghee. Spices – Too many spices can clutter the remarkable smoky flavor, so I like to keep them to a minimum. Green chili pepper – Adding the green chili pepper toward the end keeps its aroma and adds a little extra of heat. Both Thai green chili peppers or Serrano would work, though sometimes Serrano can be too strong and spicy to add at the end.
How to roast eggplant in the oven for Baingan Bharta
Not only does broiling deepen the flavor of the eggplants, but it’s the easiest and most hands-off way to achieve the smoky flavor of of this Roasted Aubergine Curry. Here’s how to do it:
How to peel the skin off broiled eggplant
The biggest tip is make sure to get as much eggplant flesh as possible close to the skin. (That golden brown char is precious.) Don’t worry if some of the bits of black skin remain in the eggplant. This process is a bit messy but very well worth it!
The eggplant will be easy to peel in some places, where the skin is more burnt and pulled away from the flesh. Where possible, peel the broiled skin from the eggplant rather than scoop. Lastly, keep the juices oozing out from the eggplant. So much flavor!
How to make this Easy Baingan Bharta
How to Serve Baingan Bharta
Since eggplant is a ‘warming’ food, it pairs really well with cooling sides. I almost always serve Baingan Bharta with yogurt on the side. Also, curries with minimal gravy go well with bread. Since baingan bharta is a ‘dry’ curry with minimal curry, it’s typically served with naan, roti, or other bread. Tried this recipe? If you have a minute, please consider leaving a comment telling me how it was! You can also take a quick picture and upload it directly into the comments. If you’re on Instagram, please tag me so I can see your creations. I truly love hearing from you. Thank you! SaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave SaveSave
