Eggplant Extravaganza- continuation Week #47

Bhaingan Bhartha- A beautiful melange of roasted broiled eggplant with spices and vegetables is how I would describe this dish. I like all my dishes rustic and slightly crunchy with the veggies. In retaurants, they might sometimes compeltely mush up the veggies too, but I like to see the veggies that go into the dish.

The most important part in these dishes is the roasting and broiling the eggplants. Those who have gas can keep the gas on low to medium flame and roast their eggplants till the skin is scarred and its cooked through and through on the inside. This might take about 30=40 minutes and is fairly laborious as you have to keep an eye on it the whole time. Since I dont have a gas stove, I broil the eggplants in the oven for about 30 minutes, but I keep turning them every 7-8 minutes till they r slightly burnt on the outside. Then I cut the eggplants halfwise and bake them for about 1 hr in 400F oven. These times may vary depending ont he size of the egplants. In India, they tend to be smaller and cook faster. Here it US, they are fairly big, so it takes time. One thing abt eggplant is, they hae to be super well done. After they have cooled, scrape the flesh away from the skins and set aside

Ingredients :
Cooked eggplant pulp: 2 cups
Onions- 1 cup minced
Garlic, ginger- 1/4 cup each
green and red bell pepper- 1/2 cup
green peas-1/2 cup
tomatoes- 3/4 cup diced
garam masala powder and coriander powder- 1 tablespoon each
Green chillies- minced 1 tabelspoon
red chilli powder- 1 tablespoon
Dried fenugreek leaves- Optional (1 tablespoon)
Oil- 1/2 cup
Cilantro- 1/2 cup
lemon or lime juice- 1/4 cup
turmeric powder- 1 tablespoon
Cumin seeds- 1 tablespoon
salt- as needed

Method:
Heat 1/4 cup oil in a wok. add cumin seeds and let crackle. Add the onions, garlic and ginger and saute for 4-5 minutes. Add turmeric powder and the green/red pepper and peas and keep cooking in high heat for 2-3 more minutes. Now add tomatoes,green chillies, coriander powder, and garam masala and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes and then add the eggplant pulp and cook still on high heat for another 7-8 minutes. Add the remaining oil and thefenugreek leaves, cilantro and lime juice. Mix well and switch off the heat. Enjoy with hot rotis or naan!