I was inspired by this Baingan Bharta recipe from Manjula’s Kitchen and altered the recipe to fit my tastes and the ingredients I had. Overall, I am very satisfied with how this recipe turned out.
TBS Mart had a fascinatingly large selection of frozen flat breads. This bag of frozen roti contained 8 flat breads. The roti tasted best when heated in a hot skillet with a small amount of ghee. Unlike the original recipe, I chose to saute diced eggplant because I prefer this texture, and left the skin on. I find skinny, light purple Japanese eggplants are tender and I do not notice the skin. In addition, they lack the bitterness and seeds of larger, dark purple eggplants.
Spicy Curried Eggplant Dish
Ingredients
-3 Japanese eggplants, cut into a small dice.
-1/2 red onion, diced
-Ghee (clarified butter)
-1 minced Thai chili
-1 teaspoon of cumin seeds
-1 pinch of asefetida
-1 teaspoon of coriander powder
-1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
-1/2 teaspoon of cayenne powder
-1/4 teaspoon of garam masala
-1/4 teaspoon of ground ginger (fresh ginger would be best)
-1 teaspoon of salt
-2 cups of chopped mustard greens
-Juice from 1/2 a lime.
Directions
In a preheated pan, saute the eggplant and onion in a couple spoonfuls of ghee. Cover and occasionally stir until tender. Add a little more ghee and toast the cumin seeds and asefetida.
Add the Thai chili. Next, add the coriander powder, turmeric, cayenne, garam masala, ginger, and salt.
Toss in the mustard greens and saute until wilted and tender.
Lastly, add the juice from 1/2 lime.
Serve with hot flat bread such as naan, roti, chapati or paratha. If you are gluten-intolerant, serve with a grain. I like to garnish with dollops of thickened yogurt and spicy mango chutney. I diluted the lebneh with water and lime juice and flavored with diced red onion, garlic, and a small amount of sugar.
Notes
You could add so many vegetables to this recipe and it would taste wonderful. If I made this recipe again, I would definitely add tomato and cilantro.
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