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Baingan Bharta (Eggplant)

Baingan Bharta is mashed eggplant cooked with spiced tomato very flavorful dish. Traditionally bharta is made with charcoal roasted eggplant but I have adopted it to the modern kitchen. This is a very popular dish in Punjab usually served with roti.

Recipe will serve 2 to 3.

Baingan BhartaIngredients:

  • 1 Eggplant (should be big and fat)
  • 2 medium size tomatoes
  • 1/2 cup red bell pepper cut in small pieces (capsicum)
  • 1 green chili
  • 1/4  inch piece of ginger
  • 3 tablespoons oil
  • Pinch of asafetida
  • 1 teaspoon cumin
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1/2  teaspoon turmeric
  • 1/2  teaspoon red chili
  • 1 teaspoon sat adjust to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
  • 2 tablespoon chopped cilantro to garnish

Method:

  1. Cook the whole eggplant (put it on a microwave safe dish) in microwave for 8 to 10 minutes until it is tender. If you are using an oven, preheat the oven at 400 degrees F and bake it for about 45 minutes turning the sides every fifteen minutes. Be sure to first put the eggplant in an oven safe shallow bowl or a cookie sheet.
  2. Let it cool and peel off the skin then chop the eggplant in small pieces and keep aside.
  3. Blend the tomatoes, ginger and green chili.
  4. Heat the oil in a saucepan on medium high and stir fry the bell pepper for about a minute. Take out the bell pepper from pan and keep aside.
  5. Use the same saucepan with remaining oil heat the oil little more. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away it is ready. Add asafetida and cumin seed.
  6. After cumin seeds crack, add tomato puree, coriander powder, turmeric, red chili, and salt and let it cook for a few minutes until tomato puree has started leaving the oil.
  7. Add eggplant let it cook on medium heat keep stirring the eggplant and mashing the eggplant as it cooks.
  8. Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes.
  9. Add bell pepper, fresh cilantro, and garam masala to the eggplant and mix it gently.
  10. Bharta is ready serve hot with rotis, parathas, or naan. Enjoy!

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105 thoughts on “Baingan Bharta (Eggplant)

  1. Love Manjula’s Kitchen!!!
    A tip on the eggplant.
    When it’s out of the microwave, grill, broiler or wherever you bake it cut it in half lengthwise and scoop out the flesh with a spoon. It’s less messy and you can scrab all eggplant from the skin.

    1. I always found it difficult separating the skin, so what I’ve been doing is using a vegetable peeler to remove the skin from the raw eggplant, and then microwaving. The pulp can then be smashed with a potato masher or cut into bits with a sharp knife. No need to wait for the whole thing to cool.

  2. How many cups of cooked eggplant does this yield? My store sells grilled eggplant in a container and I want to use it for a party to make Baingan Bharta

  3. Cut a little slit in thickest part of the Baingan, add 2 cloves of garlic and 3 green chillies. Place it on a pan under the the broiler and roast it until soft, turn it over and roast the other side. Then scoop out d flesh and put it in a bowl and mash it with a potato masher then add salt to taste. Slice a piece of onion very thin and spread it on top of the mashed Baingan. Then hot a little oil and pour over the onion slices and mix it well. Eat this with roti and rice and dal or anything you like. This is the simplest and the best!

  4. HI Manjula Maam,

    Always been your fan. I always feel that your videos are very honest, and that you dont pretend at all, saying whatever you need to say very genuinely.

    Thank you for this recipe.
    Will try it today.

    With Warm Regards
    Vaishak

  5. a small variation :
    1. Chopped spring onions including the green shoots, broken peanuts, small pieces of dry cocunut makes it taste fantastic !

  6. Thank you for this Very nice and easy recipe! I am a beginner at cooking and your recipes always help me a lot. I added some yogurt at the very end after reading another reader’s suggestion and it make for a nice creamy texture.

  7. I’m going to try this tomorrow night. I can’t find asafetida at my store. Should I substitute garlic cloves, garlic powder, onion powder, shallots, or something else?

    Also, you mentioned you don’t like to cook with garam masala and just add it at the end. What is the reason?

    Thanks for this great video and for your time.

  8. Pingback: Eggplant
  9. I have been looking for a good Baingan Bharta recipe since I first tried it at one of our local Indian restaurants in Bakersfield, CA. Everyone I tried was pretty bad, until I found yours. This is by far and away the best Baingan Bharta recipe I have ever cooked or tasted. Much better than our local restaurant and so much easier than other on-line recipes I tried. Thank you so much!

  10. Try putting the eggplant directly under the broiler.
    Cut it in half length-wise
    Place on a baking tray, cut side down
    Put on highest rack in the oven under the broiler
    Broil for 30-40 minutes, until the skin is charred
    Remove from oven and place in a covered container to cool
    Scrape flesh from each half, scraping right down to the charred skin
    Now you have the smoky flavor of baingan bharta at home

  11. Aunty,

    I absolutely love baingan bharta! I have tried my mum’s recipe but couldn’t quite get the texture of the eggplant right and with the help of your video, I’m confident that it will be a success next time! I look forward to trying out some of your recipes!

  12. Laxmi
    I don’t think that there is any way to get a charcoal effect out of cooking something in a microwave type oven. Unfortunately they’re not magic but good luck!

  13. Thanx for thi sreceipe. But pls guide me on how to cook the same in LG mvo with charcoal effect. Charcoal effect helps to get the same smoky effect which wud be obtained by putting it in bhatti. Pls guide.

    1. To get a charred effect take the eggplant out of the oven after they
      have been cooked and place them directly over a high gas flame on
      the stove. (it should work with electric stoves too)
      Rotate the eggplant till the skin is charred all over.

      Then take the eggplant off the stove, slice length wise and scoop out
      the eggplant – a few bit of charred skin will get included but that’s okay.
      You will get a nice smokey eggplant aroma using this technique.

      The downside is that you can end up making a mess on your stove which you have clean up.

  14. I’ve attempted to cook baingan bharta at home before, but this recipe was the first to bring success. Love the creamy texture and minimal tomato-y taste. Delicious!

  15. Dear Ma’am,

    This website has become an integral part of my cooking.I love all your recipes. However I have a question regarding this recipe. Do we need to take out the seeds of the baigan after baking or shall we cook along with it. Also if you could tell me the model number of your dough maker.

    Thanks

  16. Manjulaji, I loved making this recipe and it tastes awesome!! I must say that any recipe from your website is a hit and I have tried quite a few of them. I also made the pedhas and my son was overjoyed after seeing them and tasting them:) Now whenever I am not sure what to cook for dinner, I browse your website and get inspired!! Thanks a bunch!!

  17. I have been watching you cook since you first started putting up your videos on YouTube. You are so wonderful and make everything simple, and easy to copy.
    I loved how all the comments in the old days would be from Indians who called you Aunty, I see some still do that.
    I made this and it turned out GREAT! Thanks.

  18. I’ve just pushed myself away from the table. This was absolutely delicious. I substituted 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes (drained) since the fresh ones are never very good this time of year. It was a tad spicy for my 4 year old, but my toddler seemed to like it.

    I love this site for the simplicity of the recipes and the clarity and reassurance you bring to the preparation. Everything I’ve tried has been great. Now–what do I do with the bag of chana dal that I bought? 🙂

  19. Hi Manjulaji,

    Can u pls add a photo of all your cooked recipes, so that we can take the print out of the recipes with the photo of the same. Then we will get an idea that how it would look like after cooking. Pls.

    Thank you for all your awesome and easy recipes.
    Zeenia

  20. for peeling the skin off
    consider placing the baked baigan in a clear plastic bag
    the moisture allows the skin to peel off easy also the juices
    collect in the bag and for smoky rural punjabi type flavor strain juices and add to bhartha for cooking
    for very authentic bake on gas with a wire rack rotating eggplant
    continuously makes a mess put foil to catch the drippings
    delicious flavor what do you think Manjula ?

  21. I’m so excited about finding your site! I was looking for an eggplant curry recipe and found you on youtube….you are so easy to watch and learn from, thank you! can’t wait to try your recipes!! I am new to Indian and also do not eat much meat so I’m looking forward to browsing your site.

  22. This was sooo tasty and delicious with paratha. I don’t like peeling vegetables or wasting skins so I left the skin on my aubergine and it still mashed down nicely and tasted wonderful.

  23. I am anxious to try your bharta recipe. We make something somewhat similar called boulanger choka. We use Japanese style eggplant, slit the skin and insert slices of garlic, coat it lightly with oil and then roast until the skin blackens and the eggplant is very soft. We scoop out the flesh and then add roasted tomato, thinly sliced shallots, hot red pepper, and salt. We also serve with roti or naan.

    BTW, auntie, your recipe for naan is the best I’ve tried. Thank you!

  24. Thanks very much. I loved the all the recipes. When I and my wife want to decide the Saturday dinner menu, we simply visit your site. Since some of the post raised the issue of using another technique for softening egg plant, I want add some comment as well. I remember my mom use to grill them straight on hob (gas) flames. Additionally, you can use barbeque to get some nice charred flavour.

  25. Hi,
    I don’t broil mine under the broiler like Melvin does but method is fairly similar.
    I slice the eggplant fairly thick and peel them so I don’t have to do it after they’re baked and slightly messier at that point. I brush them with a small amount of olive oil and bake them until them are tender and brown. I don’t have an exact time that I leave them in the oven but you will know by their color and by also piercing them with a fork that they are tender. My husband from India also requests and says he likes the smoky flavor of cooking them over the open flame but I hate to do that only because it messes up and it’s a pain to clean my Viking stove when the juices drop onto the grates!

  26. I don’t have a microwave. What is the best way to soften the eggplant for this dish, please? Bake (if so for how long) or boil? Love your website. Thank you!

    1. Carol,

      I really like the smoky flavor of eggplant charred under the broiler. I cut them in half lengthwise and put them face down on a cookie sheet covered in non-stick aluminum foil. Place them inches away from the top burner in your oven, set on broil for 25 minutes. Once they cool, you can scoop the mushy eggplant from the skins. (This is also good in baba ganoush.)

  27. Hello. I found your website recently and I am really enjoying looking through all of your recipes. I discovered Indian food not long ago, and I love that your videos are so informative and easy to follow. I hope you don’t mind that I shared a link to your website in the new food blog I am working on. I think anyone who finds it will be very pleased that they did!
    I have not tried any of your recipes yet, but I will soon! I just need to update my spices before I get started!!
    All the best,
    Irina

  28. Manjula aunty,

    I feel you are my cooking guru, I have made one of your receipes for the past 3 days and my family is loving it!! Thank you!

  29. Hi Manjula

    I am 59 years old myself and cook the recipes you show regularly for my family but I love the easy way you show the same. The Indian veg receipes are what I check out once in a while.

    I like your simplicity and non-fussy approach to cooking.

    Continue the good work.

  30. just made this…..easy, tasty, and nutritious…thanks so much : )
    we ended up using onions instead of bell peppers because we didn’t have them…worked well.

    1. Remember this is from the Punjab region. Other regions of India make this differently. Some recipes omit the red bell pepper, but add green peas and garlic. Other spices vary by region too.

      I love that you have a video. I often skip garnish because I thought it was decorative only. It was good to see that you actually stir the cilantro garnish into the dish at the end.

  31. Hi Manjula Aunty,
    I wanted to do Baingan barta, but did not have the big eggplant, only had the Indian brinjal. Still went ahead and followed your recipe (without peeling off the skin of the brinjal) and it tasted awesome.
    Thank you.
    -Mani Ram

  32. Dear Manjula Aunty,

    I am a newly wed and miss recipes from back home. I followed ur instructions on how to make baingan bharta and it turned out so good. Thanks!

  33. Hi Munjula,

    I’s me again!

    Just watching your video, my Mum used Pumkin, Potato and sometimes Tania (ground provision which is even nicer) Bless her, she’s passed now!

    Brings back lots of memories!! thank you, Manjula.

    Velina, x

    1. Sreedevi, place the vegetables in a steaming basket placed inside a pot. There should be water at the bottom of the pot, but just below the level of the vegetables. Cover with a lid and bring the water to a boil. The steam of the boiling water will soften the vegetables. Check after about 5 minutes to test if the vegetables are soft enough. If not, replace the lid and continue steaming and checking every few minutes.

      Since there isn’t much water (maybe an inch) you should check periodically to make sure the water hasn’t evaporated. You may need to add a little water during the process.

      Also, cut the vegetables small enough so that they don’t take a long time to cook.

  34. Hi manjula, I love your recipes they are so great. I am from mexico and learning how to cook for my bengali husband. I tried this recipe and it was good. I cooked my eggplant in microwave for 8 min and pierced it with a knife but it was still kind of hard it did not seem like it was cooked all the way. what did I do wrong. ?

    1. Manjula says to cook it 8-10 min. Please remember that microwave ovens vary in their power, so your cooking time may vary. If at 8 min. the eggplant is still hard, add 2 more min. and keep repeating until the veg. is tender.

  35. I think the most important part in this recipe is that you need to pierce the eggplant with a fork in several places before microwaving or putting it in the oven otherwise the eggplant can burst and can cause damage/accident…

    THIS IS VALID FOR MOST VEGETABLES (POTATOES TOO).

  36. My egg plant exploded in the microwave after 4 minutes and I didn’t cook the red pepper long enough. It still tasted good though! I think I’ll try to bake the eggplant next time. ..

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