Vangyache Bharith (with yogurt)

Vangyache bharit (Eggplant yogurt dip)

I've posted couple types of Baingan Bharta earlier - one with tomatoes and another with pumpkin. Today's recipe is a third variation of this.

Here's how I make Vangyache Bharith (with yogurt):

Wash and dry 1 big eggplant. Apply 1 tsp oil to coat it evenly. Make 3 to 4 lengthwise slits in the eggplant and insert 1 clove of garlic (peeled) in each slit. Bake in 450F oven for 1 hour, turning around every 15-20 mins. It will soften nicely by then. Cool slightly and peel the skin off. Discard the garlic. Mash eggplant (without skin) with fork.

Tempering - Heat 2 tsp ghee, add 1/2 tsp mustard seeds. When they stop spluttering, add 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, pinch of hing, few torn curry leaves, 2 green chillies (finely chopped) and 2 cloves garlic. Fry on medium heat for 4-5 mins.

Pour over mashed eggplant. Add 1 tsp salt or to taste and pinch of sugar. Add 1 tbsp peanuts pwd or roughly chopped peanuts. Add sufficient yogurt to make into thick sauce. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

Serve at room temperature or cold with roti, rice or as a dip with chips.

Bhopla and Baingan Bharta

I thought of combining red pumpkin (bhopla) with eggplant to make this bharit/bharta as I am always looking for ways to incorporate bhopla in our diet, given its health benefits. I try to make one item with red bhopla every week like - Pumpkin Curry, Squash Curry, Pasta Sauce or Gharge (sweet pumpkin puris). Since trying this combination bharit the first time, it has now become a regular feature for me.

Here's how I make the Bhopla and Baingan Bharta:

1 large eggplant
1 cup cooked mashed red pumpkin
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finelt chopped tomatoes
handful of frozen green peas
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp cumin pwd
1 tsp coriander pwd
1/4 tsp red chilli pwd
1/4 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp kitchen king masala
2 tbsp yogurt
Salt & sugar to taste
chopped cilantro to garnish

Make 4-5 lenght-wise slits in the eggplant, rub all over with little oil and roast in a 400F oven for 1 hour turning every 15 mins. I use a baking sheet covered with aluminium foil, to collect the eggplant juices and make clean-up easy. When the roasted eggplant cools enough to handle, peel off the skin. it should peel off easily at this point. Mash the eggplant pulp into little pieces with a knife.

The red pumpkin I buy from the Indian store in usually cut into large chunk. I chop it into smaller pieces, peel it and cook with very little water for about 15 mins on medium heat. It will soften very easily at this point and can be mashed with a fork.

To proceed with making the bharit, make the tempering by heating the oil, adding the cumin seeds & when they sizzle, adding the chopped onions. Fry the onions till softened, then add the ginger and paste paste. Fry 2 mins, then add the chopped tomatoes, coriander pwd, cumin pwd, red chilli pwd, garam masala pwd and kitchen king masala pwd. Stir well and cook on medium heat about 7 to 8 mins. Add the mashed eggplant and red pumpkin. Add salt and sugar to taste. Add the frozen peas. You can add a few drops of water to prevent burning, but remember the bharta/bharit is on the dry side, so don't add a lot of water. Cover and cook on medium heat for about 10 mins. Then add the yogurt and stir to mix well. Heat gently and take off the stove. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot.

Vangi - Batatyachi Bhaji

This is a simple and tasty vegetable side dish for rotis. Here's how I make it:

2 cups eggplant - cubed

2 small red potatoes - cubed (I keep the skin on, you can peel if preferred)

1 small onion - chopped

1 tomato - chopped

For tempering - 1 tsp oil, 1/2 tsp mustard seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds, 1/4 tsp asafotida, 1/2 tsp turmeric pwd

Other spices - 1 tsp coriander pwd, 1 tsp cumin pwd, 1 tsp Goda Masala, 1/2 tsp red chilli pwd

1 tbsp jaggery/gul

1/4 tsp tamarind paste

salt to taste

First make the tempering by heating the oil, then dropping the mustard seeds. When they stop spluttering, add the cumin seeds, asafotida and turmeric pwd.

Then add the onions and saute till softened. Add the potatoes and saute a couple minutes. Add 1/4 cup water, cover and cook about 5 - 7 mins till potatoes are semi-cooked. Add the eggplant and another 1/4 cup water. Cover and cook another 5 mins on medium heat. Add the tomatoes, other spice pwds given above, salt and jaggery. You can also add a handful of frozen peas at this stage if desired. Add 1/4 - 1/2 cup water to get desired consistency, cover and cook 5 mins till all the veggies are well cooked, but not mushy. Add the tamarind paste, stir well to well. Simmer couple of mins and take off heat. Garnish with chopped cilantro if desired.

Serve with rotis/polis/phulkas.

Vangyache Kaap (Eggplant Fritters)

These are shallow fried eggplant fritters. My daughter loves them. Here's how I make them:

1 eggplant - sliced horizontally into 1/2 inch thick slabs
3 heaped tbsp rice flour
1 tsp red chilli pwd
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin pwd
pinch of asafotida
Few tbsp oil for shallow frying

Rub the eggplant slices with 1/2 the red chilli pwd and salt and rest for 15 mins. They will ooze some water. In the meanwhile, mix the rice flour with the remaining chilli pwd, salt, cumin pwd and asafotida. Dip the eggplant slices in the rice flour mix to coat on both sides. Shallow fry on both sides in a non-stick pan using oil as needed.

Serve warm with rice and dal. We love to eat them with varan-bhaat.

These Vangyache Kaap go to the Side Dish event at Veggie Platter.

These also go to the Jay Ho Brinjal event at JayZ Kitchen.

Baingan Bharta with Paushtik Roti

Here's how I make my Baingan Bharta:

1 egglant

1 cup chopped onions

1 cup chopped tomatoes

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

2 tsp oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

Handful of frozen peas

1 tsp coriander pwd

1 tsp cumin pwd

1/2 - 1 tsp red chilli pwd

1/4 - 1/2 tsp garam masala

1/4 - 1/2 tsp Kitchen King masala

1/2 tsp amchur pwd

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste - optional

Chopped cilantro to garnish

Wash the eggplant, smear some oil all around it, make 4 slits around the length of it and bake @ 400F for about 1 hr, turning every 15 mins. It should be nicely softened and oozing with some juice by then. I use a foil around the eggplant while baking, its easier for clean-up plus hold the juice in.

After it cools down, peel off the skin (it should easily peel away). Chop the eggplant flesh finely. I use my mini-chopper for this.

Heat 2 tsp oil and fry the cumin seeds for 1 - 2 mins. Then add the chopped onions, fry for 7 mins. Add the ginger and garlic pastes. Fry 1 - 2 mins. Add the tomatoes and fry for 7 - 8 mins till softened. Then add the chopped eggplant, salt and all the masalas. Mix well, cover and cook on medium low for 5 more mins. Add the frozen peas and 1 to 2 tbsp yogurt. Yogurt gives a good creaminess. Mix well, cover and keep cooking another 5 mins. Take off heat. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve hot with rotis.

Last weekend, we had this with Paushtik Rotis from Tarla Dalal's magazine.

Here's how I made these Paushtik Rotis:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup other mixed flour (I used a mix of gram flour, oat flour, jowar flour, bajra flour - about 2 tbsp each)

1 small potato - boiled, peeled and grated

1/4 cup grated carrots

Handful of chopped spinach

Salt to taste

1 tsp coriander - cumin pwd

pinch of red chilli pwd

4 tbsp yogurt

Mix all of the above into a soft pliable dough. I did not need to add any additional water. Roll into rotis and roast on hot tawa. If desired, drizzle some oil around them while roasting. This made about 5 - 6 rotis for us.

Bharli Vangi - stuffed baby eggplant subji

This is a family favorite, whenever I make it, I also make double the usual number of rotis as we always end up eating more than our regular quota.

Here's how I make it:

Masala for stuffing inside the baby eggplants -

2 tsp canola oil

1 cup finely chopped onions

2 heaped tbsp of dry shredded unsweetened coconut

1 heaped tbsp of peanut pwd (dana koot)

1 heaped tsp dhana - jira pwd.

2 heaped tsp Maharashtrian Goda Masala

1/2 tsp red chilli pwd or to taste

2 tsp crushed jaggery

1 tsp tamarind paste

2 tsp Salt or to taste

Heat the oil, add the onions and saute 5 mins. Add the coconut and peanut pwds. Saute 2-3 minutes on medium. Add the dhana-jira pwd, goda masala, red chilli pwd. Mix well. Add 1/2 cup of water and the jaggery and tamarind. Stir occasionally till jaggery melts. Add the salt, mix and take off heat. Cool slightly. This masala mix will absorb water the longer it sits. You can add a few more tsps of water later if it thickens.

For the bhaji/subji:

2 tsp oil (usually this bhaji uses more oil, but I limit it to 2 tsp)

12 - 15 baby eggplants

1 tsp ginger paste

1 tsp garlic paste

1 medium potato - diced (optional)

Cut off the stems at the top of the eggplants. Cut an X shape on the bottom of each eggplant. It should be a fairly deep cut since it will hold the masala mix. But it should not completely cut the eggplant into 4 pieces. Stuff about 1/2 - 1 tsp of the masala mix in each eggplant. There should be some masala mix remaining after stuffing all the eggplants.

Heat the oil in a wok/kadai. Fry the ginger and garlic pastes for 1 min. Add the potatoes & fry 2-3 mins. Gently place the masala-stuffed eggplant all around the kadai. Add all remaining masala and 1 cup water. Cover and cook on medium low for about 20 mins till the potatoes and eggplants cook well. Like with the masala mix, this bhaji will go on thickening the longer it sits. In that case you can add another 1/4 to 1/2 cup water and reheat before serving.

Enjoy with polis/rotis.

This Bharli Vangi goes to Viki's Kitchen for her Side Dish for Chapathi event.