Aloo Baingan (Potato and Eggplant)
September 28th, 2008 filed under Subji (Vegetables), Vegan
Aloo baingan (potato and eggplant) is a great main dish. It’s easy to make and can be served with any bread.
This recipe serves 3 to 4.
Ingredients:
- 1 medium purple eggplant (baingan), un-peeled, cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 2 medium russet potatoes (aloo), peeled and cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 4 medium tomatoes (tamatar) cut into 1/2″ cubes
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro (hara dhania)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Pinch of asafetida (hing)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seed
- 1 chopped green chili adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon ginger paste (adrek)
- 1 tablespoon coriander powder (dhania powder)
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric (haldi)
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika (dagi mirch)
- 1 teaspoon salt, adjust to taste
- 2 tablespoons water
Also needed:
- Oil to fry
Method
- Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium high heat.
- Frying pan should have at least 1 1/2 inch of oil. To check if the oil is ready, put one piece of potato in the oil. The potato should sizzle right away. If vegetables are fried in low heat they will be very oily.
- Fry the potatoes till they are cooked through, turn the potatoes few times while frying. Take out potatoes with a slotted spoon (this allows excess oil to drip back into the frying pan) and place on a paper towel.
- Test the oil again with a piece of eggplant. Fry the eggplant pieces same way.
- In a small bowl, mix the shredded ginger, green pepper, coriander powder, paprika, turmeric, and 2 tablespoons of water to make a paste.
- Heat the 1-tablespoon of oil in a pan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if seed cracks right away oil is ready.
- Add cumin seeds and asafetida after seeds crack add the spice mixture and stir-fry for a minute until you see the oil start to separate from the spice mixture.
- Add chopped tomatoes stir-fry for a minute.
- Add fried potatoes and eggplant mix it gently, let it simmer for three to four minute on medium low heat.
- Subji should be not very dry if needed add three to four spoons of water.
- Turn off the heat and add chopped cilantro mix it well.
- Left over makes great sandwiches
- Enjoy!
why do they say that u never use onion in your receipe. i think u use onions. i think i have never seen u using garlic in your receipe . may be because you are a jain.
Lem Tay, I should try that next time. This was really good but maybe a bit fatty since it was fried.
Manjula, I really enjoyed making this recipe. I am American and married to an Indian man, and since you are Jain your recipes are close to what his mother makes. I made it tonight and just added a 1/2 tsp of red chile powder along with the paprika (since we like really spicy food) and also 1 tsp of garam masala when it was simmering at the end. We had it with naan and both loved it. Thanks! I love your website.
Dear Manjula Aunty,
Your recipes are tasty and your style of cooking is simple. And making food tasty without onion and garlic is not that easy. I am from the ‘not too much onion and garlic’ school so your recipes have helped me a lot.
Thank you very much.
Dear Aunty,
Thankyou for sharing your delicious recipes and sharing your video clips as well.
I would be very interested in some traditional saatvik recipes.
In gratitude from New Zealand.
Aunty,I’ve a question…why don’t you ever use onion in your recipes? Do you make saatvik food?
dear aunty,
do you know where to get paprika in tamilnadu?
i’m a resident of Chennai.
Onolicious dish……..my ohana(family) love it. Thanks Majulaji for your recipe. Much mahalo.
fuatate
WOW..Tried and came out wonderful. I like the great smell of coriander powder and ginger and tastes yummy too. The brinjal soaked a lot of oil, because of its texture, so i half cooked in oven. Its great looking dish.Thanks for sharing.
Namaste Manjulaji,
I love this combination of veges. I used to make my own receipe but now I have tried your receipe and it was tastier. I used to add onions in my receipt. Thanks you also for the hint on how to test if the oil is hot enough but putting in a gheera seed… that’s a great tip. I also used the left overs on italian bread – for lunch – we enjoyed them. Thanks Manjulaji.
If you want to try this recipe with a greatly reduced amount of oil used, try boiling the potatoes, and grilling the eggplant.
You will need to cut the eggplant into 1/2″ slices, just to make it easier to grill.
Have about 1 tbsp of oil in a small bowl and a pastry/basting brush, heat a ridged grill. I use a cast-iron one which is very well seasoned and that works great, otherwise, a non-stick one would work too. Brush each slice of eggplant lightly with oil, then press down on the grill. Press each slice down well to get a good contact with the heat, and don’t move it for at least 2-3 minutes to let the lines form.
Repeat for the other side. You will find that the eggplant cooks very well this way, has a smoky/charred taste, minus all that oil. You can test for doneness by piercing the eggplant with a sharp pointed knife or similar, when it feels tender instead of spongy, it’s ready.
After grilling, you can cut the eggplant into smaller pieces and proceed with the recipe as normal. You may want to cook the eggplant a bit less to ensure that in the final simmering the pieces don’t fall apart.
Let me know how you all go with this alternative method. Thanks.