By HuMA

Tomato Bhagara Baigan

 

Tomato Fried Eggplant in three steps

Overview

Quick and Tasty vegetarian dish

You can watch this recipe on YouTube. Please Like, Subscribe, and hit the bell.

Eggplant sauce

I consider the Hyderabadi Bhagara Baigan to be the queen of eggplant dishes.  It is a popular and complex dish from Hyderabad India and is typically served with biryani.  The original recipe is made with a lot of spices like sesame seeds, cumin, coconut, peanuts freshly roasted grinded and cooked in an onion and tamarind paste which takes a while to put together.  For me it is a labor of love that I would only do for special occasions.  This recipe that I am sharing is a twist on the traditional Bhagara Baigan, it is a much simpler version that I make with tomatoes. I don’t have a fancy name for it so I just call it the tomato version of the Bhagara Baigan.

Instructions

Step 1 – Fry the Eggplants

 2 Eggplants (2 lb)

 ½ cup oil

Slice the eggplants and pan fry each side and set aside.  To make it healthier you can roast the sliced eggplants lightly sprayed/brushed with oil in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  If you roast the eggplants then reduce the quantity of oil by half to ¼ cup.

Step 2 – Make the Sauce

2 medium onions, thinly sliced

1.5 tsp garlic paste

1.5 tsp ginger paste

1/2 tsp fenugreek powder (methi dana)

1 tsp coriander powder (dhanya)

1 tsp cumin powder powder (zeera)

1/2 tsp turmeric (haldi)

.5 tsp poppy seeds (khas khas)

1.5 tsp sesame seeds powder (til)

1 tsp salt

1/3 tsp red pepper

¼ cup peanut butter

2 cup tomato sauce

In the left over oil fry the onions until golden brown.  Add the rest of the ingredients and cook for about 15 minutes until oil separates

.

Step 3 – Cook eggplant in sauce

2 tbsp lemon juice

Cilantro for garnish

Add the eggplants to the sauce and cook on low heat for 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and add the lemon juice.  Use cilantro for garnish

ALL DONE! Happy cooking, let us know in the comments if you have any feedback or suggestions, we would love to hear from you. Below is a video of this recipe.