Bharwan Baingan Video by Tarla Dalal

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Expose your taste buds to some real excitement! The Bharwan Baingan is a super tasty dish of small brinjals, prepared the Punjabi way, with an intensely-flavoured stuffing of onion, coconut and peppy spices. The stuffing, prepared by sautéing a rich onion-coconut paste with spice powders, gives the brinjals an amazing flavour and unique texture too. The stuffed brinjals are cooked slowly and carefully in a kadhai, with a flavourful tempering, till they are soft and aromatic. It is quite exciting to watch the small brinjals transform into this exciting dish, which makes it worth licking your fingers!

Recipe Description for Bharwan Baingan, Punjabi Bharwan Baingan Recipe

Preparation Time: 25 mins
Cooking Time: 24 mins
Makes 5 servings
Show me for servings

Ingredients

For The Onion-coconut Paste
1 cup roughly chopped onions
1 cup freshly grated coconut
1/4 cup coriander (dhania) seeds
3 whole dry kashmiri red chillies , broken into pieces
1 tbsp roughly chopped garlic (lehsun)
1 tbsp finely chopped ginger (adrak)
3 cloves (laung / lavang)
2 small sticks cinnamon (dalchini)

For The Stuffing
2 tbsp oil
1/4 cup roasted and coarsely powdered peanuts
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (haldi)
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp coriander-cumin seeds (dhania-jeera) powder
1 tsp sugar
salt to taste
1 tsp lemon juice
2 tbsp finely chopped coriander (dhania)

Other Ingredients
14 small brinjal (baingan / eggplant)
5 tbsp oil
2 tsp cumin seeds (jeera)
1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic (lehsun)
1 bayleaf (tejpatta)

For Serving
rotis/parathas

Method

For the onion-coconut paste

Combine the onions, coconut, coriander seeds, dry red kashmiri chillies, garlic, ginger, cloves and cinnamon in a deep non-stick pan and dry roast on a medium flame for 2 minutes. Keep aside to cool completely.
Once cooled, blend in a mixer to a smooth paste using approx. ¼ cup of water. Keep aside.

For the stuffing

Heat the oil in a broad non-stick pan, add the prepared onion-coconut paste, peanuts, turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander-cumin seeds powder, sugar and salt and mix well.
Add the lemon juice and coriander, mix well and cook on a medium flame for 3 to 4 minutes, while stirring continuously. Keep aside.

How to proceed

Slit the brinjals in the centre to make a criss-cross mark that divides each brinjal into 4 parts joined at the stem.
Stuff the slits of each brinjal with the prepared stuffing and keep the remaining stuffing aside.
Heat the oil in a deep non-stick kadhai and add the cumin seeds.
When the seeds crackle, add the garlic and bayleaf and sauté on medium flame for a few seconds.
Add the stuffed brinjals and mix gently. Cover it with a lid and cook on a medium flame for 7 minutes, while stirring occasionally.
Lower the flame, add 1 cup of water and little salt and mix gently. Cover it with a lid and cook on a medium flame for 10 minutes, while stirring occasionally. Keep tossing the brinjals occasionally to avoid them from breaking.
Serve hot with rotis or parathas.