{"id":18765,"date":"2016-07-12T23:16:26","date_gmt":"2016-07-12T21:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=18765"},"modified":"2016-07-12T23:16:26","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T21:16:26","slug":"indian-mashed-stir-fried-aubergine-almost-baigan-ka-bharta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=18765","title":{"rendered":"Indian Mashed Stir-fried Aubergine (almost Baigan ka Bharta)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"mashed_auberginep\"India – Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant<\/a> is one of the biggest cookery books I own and I’ve ever seen. Its impressive almost 800 small print pages are filled with an impressive number\u00a0of recipes collected\u00a0by the author from different regions during twenty years. Contrary to other Indian cookery books I have and appreciate, this one is the only one where I know I will find a recipe for practically every vegetable known in\u00a0India.<\/p>\n

Last week I bought several beautiful aubergines, making first Baba ganouj<\/a>, then Japanese miso-glazed aubergine<\/a>… and then I needed spice, so obviously I turned to\u00a0Pushpesh Pant’s collection. This is how I found baigan ka bharta, a dish I couldn’t compare to anything I have ever had or seen in an Indian restaurant. Its combination of buttery, spicy, slightly tangy and incredibly dynamic flavours make it one of the most fantastic vegetable dishes I have ever made. I call it “almost Baigan ka Bharta” because I have changed the ratio of ingredients (especially ghee), left the aubergines rather chunky (not completely mashed) and seriously\u00a0simplified the roasting process, so I encourage everyone to check the extraordinary India – Cookbook<\/a>.<\/p>\n

TIPS:<\/strong> Do not replace the ghee (clarified butter) with anything else. The buttery taste plays a huge role in the final taste. At worst, you can combine neutral vegetable oil with normal unsalted butter instead. (Apart from Indian grocery shops and internet, ghee can be found in organic shops, at least in Europe).<\/p>\n

The author doesn’t say anything about tomato skin removal and I didn’t do this. The taste was amazing, so if you have good quality aromatic tomatoes, don’t remove the skin.<\/p>\n

The aubergines should be mashed, but I preferred to leave them slightly chunky and loved it this way. Both versions can be treated as a side-sidh or as a thick dip\/spread too.<\/p>\n

Preparation: about 1 hour<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients (serves 2 as a side dish):<\/em><\/p>\n

2 medium aubergines<\/em><\/p>\n

2 tablespoons ghee (clarified butter)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 flat teaspoon cumin seeds<\/em><\/p>\n

1 small onion, chopped<\/em><\/p>\n

1 big garlic clove (chopped)<\/em><\/p>\n

about 1 cm grated or finely chopped fresh ginger<\/em><\/p>\n

1 hot green chilli pepper, sliced or chopped<\/em><\/p>\n

1\/5 flat teaspoon turmeric<\/em><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon medium hot chilli powder (I have used Kashmiri chilli powder)<\/em><\/p>\n

1 medium tomato, diced<\/em><\/p>\n

salt<\/em><\/p>\n

chopped coriander leaves<\/em><\/p>\n

Roast the aubergines over flame, grill or under the oven broiler until the skin is black.<\/p>\n

Let them cool down. Remove the flesh and chop it roughly, mashing a bit (or mash it completely if you prefer).<\/p>\n

Heat the ghee in a frying pan at medium heat and fry the cumin until it starts popping.<\/p>\n

Add the onion and sitr-fry until soft.<\/p>\n

Then add the garlic, the chilli and the ginger and stir-fry for about 20 seconds.<\/p>\n

Add the aubergine, the chilli powder and the turmeric and stir-fry for about 5 minutes.<\/p>\n

At the end add the tomato and let them until they heat up.<\/p>\n

Add salt to taste, sprinkle with coriander seeds and serve. (I liked it a lot only slightly warm).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

India – Cookbook by Pushpesh Pant is one of the biggest cookery books I own and I’ve ever seen. Its impressive almost 800 small print…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[35,13,133,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18765"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18765"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18773,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18765\/revisions\/18773"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}