Baingan Bharta, Eggplant Masala Mélange

At the top end of Melbourne’s Bourke Street sits a couple of Indian restaurants operating under the same chain.  They go by the names Green Pepper and Red Pepper.  Both places cook up similar dishes but the main variant in that Green Pepper is set up in a more classy almost fine dining manner.  Red Pepper is more of a regular take away joint that satisfies diners that are looking for quick informal bite to eat. 

Colleagues of mine have long bragged about the tastiest dish (according to them!) on the menus of both Red & Green Pepper – Baingan Bharta – a spicy eggplant dish from India that encompasses all things good about an eggplant or aubergine for my Poms out there!  The most memorable part of this dish is the smoky taste that comes from the cooking process of initially roasting the eggplant.  I recall this dish being made by my parents, but it is more of a side dish that was eaten alongside other vegetarian dishes with steamed basmati rice and daal.  At Green Pepper the dish is served as a main with your choice of naans or rice to accompany it, and as it is one of their specialties. Baingan Bharta costs more than most of the meat based mains and definitely packs more punch. 

I decided to challenge myself to recreate Green Pepper’s Baingan Bharta, after all how hard could it be?  Bharta in Hindi refers to a dish of a vegetable (usually), that has been pulped or mashed.  Another variety that was always popular with me as a child is Aloo Bharta which is made from potatoes.  The smoky flavour infused into the eggplant is the key to this dish. The aromas that fill the kitchen during preparation are sensational and give you a prelude of the dish to come - a mélange of masala delight!

Ingredients, to serve 4
2 x medium Eggplants (500g) (Baingan or Aubergine or Brinjal)
2 tbsp x Oil
1 tsp x Cumin Seeds
1 x Red Onion, finely diced
1 tbsp x Fresh Ginger, crushed
2 x Fresh Chilli, sliced (remove the seeds if you like it milder)
2 x tsp Cumin powder
½ cup x Peas
2 x Fresh Tomato, diced 
1 tsp x Mustard Oil (optional, but it adds to the flavour to the dish) 
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves, chopped for garnish 
1 tbsp x Ginger, cut into fine matchstick lengths 
Directions

Preheat the oven to 200^o c

Place the eggplant in a roasting dish and allow to bake for 30-45 minutes

Turn the eggplant around with tongs every 15 minutes, the flesh will begin to collapse as it roasts

When the skin has darkened and is slightly hard to the touch remove from the oven

Turn the highest flame on your cooktop on

Hold the eggplants with metal tongs over the flame to blacken and blister the skin further, this will really infuse the smoky taste that is sought after

Allow the eggplant to cool then peel the skin off and mash into a coarse pulp

Heat a wok with the oil and add the cumin seeds

Fry for a few seconds then add the onion and cook till soft

Stir in the crushed ginger and sliced chilli with the cumin powder

Now add the eggplant and the peas and fold through the spice mix

Cook for 5 minutes stirring to avoid it from catching

Stir in the chopped tomato and mustard oil and cook for a further 5 minutes

Add salt to taste

Remove from heat and garnish with coriander and ginger matchsticks

"This is a very easy dish to create and does not have a huge list of hard to find spices.  It’s simplicity relies on the delectable smokiness of the eggplant and the freshness of the other ingredients.  With the addition of peas that gives the dish more body it even turns the tables on regular Baingan Bharta that my parents make as this now becomes a main.  Thanks goes out to Green Pepper for putting it on the menu, or else I would have never thought to cook an eggplant dish like this."

Baingan Bharta is a favourite dish at my workplace as most of my colleagues love the stuff and could probably live on it! 

So now when I make a batch of the good stuff, I make sure I take in plenty of lunch packs for the troops!

It saves me the trip to Green Pepper!!

Eggplant with Dried Fish...Bangladeshi Baingan Shutki

Foodies the world around that enjoy cooking harbour their inspiration from many facets.  For me I would have to say my “curry culture” comes from my parents.  My siblings and I grew up at home in Melbourne.  Our family comes from India, so we spent many a dinnertime over my dad’s curry concoctions or my mother’s carefully prepared Chicken Korma or Biryani (she's very precise in the ingredients and methods).  The recipes for these dishes always seemed to elude any written form and I am quite convinced that they do not exist, on paper anyway.  Instead, the ingredients and exact specifications for these dishes are imprinted in the memory banks of home cooks alike.  Mums and dads, grandmas and aunts all seem to know just how much of each spice, and just how much salt is required to get the dish to taste exactly the same way it did the last time you ate it.  I am yet to put my parent’s recipes into this blog – it’s just a matter of letting them in the kitchen to cook, with me hovering around taking notes and pictures – stay tuned (future blog topic alert!)

One such cook that follows the same principles of cooking without cookbooks, is my mother-in-law - my Amma (আম্মা - Bengali for mother).  She is originally from Bangladesh and has been cooking almost all her life, and like my parents, her recipes are all in her head too.  For some years now I have been enjoying dishes prepared by her, and true to form, her chicken curry and beef curry always impresses – and meets the requirement of tasting the same each time.  I think that even if I had not had it in a while, I would recognise her curry in a blind taste test.  On a recent visit to “the in-laws” I was greeted at the front door with the aroma of something deliciously spicy being cooked up in the kitchen.  On closer inspection (as you do!), I was delighted to discover that it was an eggplant dish that she was conjuring up.  Over the years, I have falsely given the impression that I like only meat curries, and as a result Amma has only cooked me beef and chicken dishes, which I have loved each time.  Well I have voiced my opinion on all things vegetarian (and fishy) with her, and hopefully now I can experience some dishes from Bangladesh that will be completely new to me.   

Ikan Bilis - use these if you cannot get Bangladeshi Shutki

This highly pungent dish is a classic style Bangladeshi cuisine which uses dried fish as its flavoursome base.  Shutki, as it is known in Bangladesh, can include a variety of fish that have been dried over time, and as you would expect, they share the common characteristic of a very, very stinky smell, similar to Belachan (Dry Shrimp Paste) – that I have used frequently in Malaysian and Indonesian cooking.  In most cases I would recommend when cooking anything with dried fish, to open all the windows and doors in your house – unless you have an industrial strength exhaust fan in your kitchen.  

Despite the recipe being safely locked away in my mother-in-law's head I was able to get the ingredients and directions and decided to try my hand at some Bangladeshi cuisine.  I admit, however, that when I cooked it yesterday, it was not the same as hers, but it was tasty and came somewhat close to its likeness.  This dish is a very easy to prepare and surprisingly simple, given how good it tastes.  I have used Ikan Bilis, as they are easy to come by in your local supermarket, but to be true to her traditions my Amma sources only the finest shutki from her Bangladeshi grocer, and for authenticity I think I will use these next time as my final dish just was not fishy enough.

Ingredients

• ½ cup x Ikan Bilis , soaked in warm water  
• 1 x large Eggplant, cut into thick batons
• Cooking Oil
• 1 x large Onion, finely diced 
• 6 cloves x Garlic, crushed
• 3-4 x Green Chillies, sliced
• 1 tsp x Turmeric Powder
• 3 tsp x Coriander Powder
• 1 tsp x Chilli Powder
• ½ cup x Water
• Whole green chillies, sliced lengthways to garnish 

Home-grown garlic straight from my garden

Directions
In a hot wok heat 2 tablespoons of cooking oil

Add the onion and cook slowly for a few minutes until soft

Now stir in the garlic and chilli be sure it does not catch

Put in the teaspoon of turmeric and combine

Squeeze and drain the water out of the soaking ikan bilis 
Discard the water and add the dried fish to the wok

Add the eggplant pieces followed by the coriander and chilli powder

Mix well, turning to coat with the mixture

Add a little water to deglaze the bottom and sides of wok

Turn the heat to low and cover the wok

Cook for about 10 minutes or until the eggplant is tender but still holds its shape
Remove the lid and allow the liquid to reduce slightly to a thick gravy
Garnish with sliced whole chillies and keep covered until serving

"Traditionally Bangladeshi food is eaten with the hand although I leave this up to the experts.  I seem to get by with a spoon and fork."

"Eggplant and Dried Fish would generally be eaten with rice but I am a big roti fan. Parathas, naans or chapatis go well with the dish too."