Sometimes when a recipe is truly great, I find I have little to say other than “Make this.” So, if you like Indian food in general and Baingan Bharta in particular, make this. It’s as good as or better than what you’ll find in a restaurant but without a lot of oil or, possibly, butter and it’s certified delicious by my resident eggplant-hater.
Before you run off to the kitchen, let me admit that yes, I made baingan bharta and basically added chickpeas to it. Laziness is the reason, my usual desire to get vegetables and protein all into one dish so that I don’t have to make side dishes.
In this case, I could have used some sides because this dish was so mouth-watering, so appetite-inducing, and yet so light that we were all three still hungry after we’d polished off the 4 average-sized servings. So plan to either double the recipe or make some side dishes. I suggest Red Cabbage and Peas with Cumin and Mustardseed, Baked Spinach Kofta, Palak Tofu, Bhindi Masala, or any of my Indian recipes.
Finally (boy, I just can’t shut up), I really need to point out that you can get all of the essential ingredients at almost any supermarket, but if you have an Indian grocery store nearby, you’ll be able to find asafetida and ginger paste there. Neither is a necessity, but I find the ginger paste to be a big time-saver, as well as a recipe-saver when all my fresh ginger root seems to have become dried up, gnarled, and downright scary in my fridge. You’ll also find fresher garam masala in an Indian store than you will in a supermarket, but not as fresh as if you make it yourself; see the end of the recipe for ingredients before you head out on your shopping trip.
Eggplant and Chickpea Curry
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 medium onion , chopped
- 1/2 red bell pepper seeded and diced
- 1 1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/8 teaspoon asafetida (or 1 clove garlic, pressed)
- 1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes (fire-roasted preferred)
- 2 teaspoons ginger paste or minced ginger root
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne or other hot red pepper (less or more, to taste)
- 1 15-ounce can cooked chickpeas , rinsed and drained (or 1 1/2 cups)
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/4 cup minced parsley or cilantro
- 1/4 teaspoon garam masala (start with less and add more to taste)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400F. Prick eggplant with a fork several times and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until eggplant is sunken and soft all the way through. Remove from oven and set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel and chop the eggplant flesh.
- Heat a non-stick skillet. Add the onion and cook until it begins to turn golden. Add the bell pepper and cook for a few more minutes. Clear a spot in the center of the skillet and sprinkle the cumin seeds directly on the hot surface. Stir and toast them for about a minute, until they become fragrant. Stir them into the onions and peppers and add the coriander, turmeric, asafetida (or garlic), tomatoes, ginger paste, and red pepper.
- Add the eggplant and cook over medium heat, pressing eggplant with the back of a spoon to break up large pieces, for about 10 minutes. Add the chickpeas and enough water or chickpea cooking liquid to keep the mixture moist, cover tightly, and turn heat to low. Cook for at least 15 minutes, stirring periodically, until sauce has thickened and flavors have blended. (You can hold this dish on low for up to 45 minutes while you prepare the rest of your meal, but add additional liquid as needed and don’t forget to stir, scraping the bottom.)
- Just before serving, add parsley (or cilantro), garam masala, and salt to taste. Serve with rice or Indian bread.
Recipe Notes
I used freshly-made garam masala, which is more flavorful than most store-bought blends; depending on your spice blend, you may need to add more to get the right flavor. Garam masala recipes vary, but my current favorite is to combine 1 tablespoon black cardamom seeds, 1 cinnamon stick (about 2 1/2 inches long), 1 teaspoon cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon whole cloves, 1 teaspoon black peppercorns. Grind in coffee or spice grinder until powdered. Heat a small, dry pan. Add spices and toast just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl, and allow to cool. Once cool, store in a sealed jar for future use.
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Shannon D.
This was amazing. The only issue I had was peeling the eggplant after I roasted it. Will try doing it before, however the dish still came out amazingly. Glad to have found this website and can’t wait to make your other dishes.
sherri
is it possible to use ground cumin instead of the seeds, since that’s what i have? would it make a huge difference in the outcome of the recipe? thank you.
Susan Voisin
The seeds give it a different layer of flavor, but if you don’t have them, you can just add about 3/4 tsp. of ground cumin along with the other ground spices (no need to toast the ground cumin).
Jean Heath
Why is it either — 1/8 teaspoon asafetida (or 1 clove garlic, pressed) when they are completely different kinds of foods.
Tami@NutmegNotebook
I am so glad you posted about this on Facebook today. I just bought 2 eggplants yesterday and was wondering what to make with them!
Robert Wenom
Love your recipes, my wife subscribes. Many call for spices in whole seed form, ie, cumin, cardamom, etc. I’ve always used ground spices for convenience and thought it actual gives more flavor per dollar. What am I missing??
Susan Voisin
Hi Robert. For most things, ground spices are fine and probably cost-effective. But there are advantages to whole spices. For one thing, as soon as you grind a spice, it begins to lose flavor. The delicate oils that carry the flavor are volatile when exposed to air, and they immediately begin to lose potency. If you ever have a chance, compare the tastes of whole and ground cumin, and you will see what a huge difference there is.
Much of the flavor of Indian dishes like this comes from layering flavors. So the milder flavor of ground cumin (in the garam masala) is stacked on top of the more powerful and complex flavor of the whole spice. The whole seeds also lend a more concentrated flavor whenever you bite into one so that one bite tastes different from the next. So for Indian food, I really think that whole cumin, at the very least, is essential and other whole spices are good if you can get them. If there’s an Indian grocery store near you, you will find their prices very affordable (much less expensive than supermarket spices.)
Mina
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I made it for a dinner party and it was delicious. Super useful for non-vegans to add to their suitable-for-all-dinner-guests repertoire.
Olivia
I made this last night and all I can say it YUUUUUM!!! I came across your recipe when I was searching for an Eggplant curry as I have a new found obsession with Eggplant….and curry…
I try to stick to exact measurements when I’m cooking but when it comes to adding the spices, I end up just throwing in what I feel would work (or what looks like it could possible be 1/4 tsp, but ends up being more like a whole tbsp…). Either way, I’m definitely pinning this recipe to my Pinterest and will make it again for my housemates as they were drooling over it when I was cooking it this first time!
The Elf
This will be our first Elf-fort in our joint project. Excited to try this. I love eggplant and I think Big Solid will be pleasantly surprised!!
Michele
Hi, Susan,
My local produce delivery brought Japanese eggplant this week and I’m dying to try them. Do you think they’d work in this recipe and, if so, would I cook the same?
They’re smaller than a traditional eggplant.
Thank you!
Susan Voisin
I think you can do it with Japanese eggplants. Just use several of them and start checking them after they’ve baked for 10 minutes–they’ll get done more quickly than a large eggplant. The one thing that worries me is that there is a higher skin to “flesh” ratio for small eggplants, so you may have to use quite a few and it won’t be as easy peeling them.
Martha
Susan, those dishes are BEUTIFUL!!!
Carin
This was fantastic!!! I will be making this again and again. Thank you for sharing.
Kimberly
I can’t wait to try this tomorrow-sounds delish! We love cooking Indian food and this sounds perfect to go along with a few other dishes for dinner.
Just a tip to avoid “gnarled” ginger in the bottom of the crisper drawer: put it, skin on, in a freezer bag in your freezer. Whenever you need fresh ginger, peel the skin off the portion you need with a vegetable peeler, and then grate the exposed portion, frozen, on a cheese or micro plane grater. Voila! You have fresh grated ginger perfect for measuring out or making into a paste. You can also slice or dice frozen ginger with a sharpe knife and use it the same way you would fresh. Happy cooking!
Kimberly
Oops, just saw that someone else suggested the freezer ginger trick waaaay up in the comments. Please feel free to delete my previous message, but thanks for the great recipe.
Susan Voisin
A good tip always bears repeating. Thanks for commenting!
Janet Jones
I recently made this and it was delicious. I served it over quinoa. The only thing I did differently was use an immersion blender on it before adding the cilantro, as that’s how we always ate it in our fav Indian restaurant. Great job Susan!
Rahul Hacker
I made the cabbage and Spring peas with cumin and mustard seed it was beautiful and yummy love it … Keep it up 🙂
jem
I’m not sure how you got yours to look so lovely. After adding the diced tomatoes mine looked more like sauce and less like piece of red pepper, chickpeas and eggplant. All mine were covered with the tomatoes and looked mushy even though they weren’t really. The flavor though was spectacular! We love Indian food….thank you so much.
Aniket
Thanks for Sharing this Amazing Recipe Susan! I am Indian and I know how delicious ‘Baigan Bharta’ be like.
I will surely try Making Eggplant & Chickpea Curry This time. Seems Yum!
Lisa
Wow – just SO yummy!!!! As someone who is gently pulling herself from eating meat, I often find myself thinking”oh that’s yummy…just needs some chicken” as I try vegetarian/vegan recipes. NOT THE CASE for this DELICIOUS dish!!! The complexity of the spices and the wonderful textures are so satisfying! I’ll be making this again and again!!!
Jessica
Do you think this would be good served cold, at a pot luck, like a salad?
Susan Voisin
I think it’d be fine but probably better room temperature rather than cold.