Punjabi Aloo Baingan Recipe
Punjabi style baingan aloo sabji is a simple homestyle vegetarian dish with eggplants, potatoes, indian spices and tomatoes. Serve with rotis or dal and rice.
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup mustard oil or any cooking oil, feel free to decrease oil as desired. Eggplants taste great when oil quanity is optimum
- 2 dried chili or ½ teaspoon red chilli flakes
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds jeera
- ¼ teaspoon fenugreek seeds methi dana, skip if not available
- ¼ teaspoon asafetida hing, skip if not available
- 2 tablespoon garlic finely chopped
- 2 medium (~200g) potatoes peeled & cut similar to eggplant (I use yellow potatoes)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
- 1.25 teaspoon coriander powder
- 1 teaspoon red chilli powder (hot) or use cayenne powder, adjust to taste
- 2-3 (~200g) tomatoes I use Roma tomatoes, puree in a blender or use canned tomato sauce
- 1 (~350g) eggplant any variety of eggplant (peel on) works, cut in a similar size as the potatoes
- ½ teaspoon amchur dry mango powder, or use fresh lime juice, adjust to taste
- ½ teaspoon garam masala powder
- 1 teaspoon kasuri methi dry fenugreek leaves, crushed between palms
- 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
- chopped cilantro to garnish
Instructions
- In a wide cooking pan(10 inch or larger) or wok, heat up the oil. If you are using mustard oil you will need to heat it up for up to 1-2 minutes to do away the raw smell. Make sure that the oil is not smoking.
- Once the oil is hot, reduce the heat to low, wait a little and then temper hot oil with dried chili, hing, fenugreek and cumin seeds. Let crackle. Immediately add the garlic (chopped fresh garlic is best). Let cook for 5-7 seconds taking care they do not burn. (You do not want the garlic to turn bitter as it changes the taste of the sabji, take the pan off the heat, if needed).
- Add the potatoes next and sprinkle a little salt. Let them lightly brown in hot oil for 2-3 minutes.
- Next, add a splash of water and sprinkle spice powders- coriander, red chili and turmeric. Fry for 1 minute taking care that ground spices dont burn.
- Pour in the tomato puree next. Mix well and then cover the pan. Let cook on low- medium heat till the potatoes are 50%-60% tender. The moisture from tomatoes should be enough to par cook the potatoes. However, make sure to check in between and add a splash of water if needed
- Meanwhile, wash the eggplant and cut it up roughly the same size as the potatoes.
- To the par boiled potatoes, add the chopped eggplant and salt. Mix well so that everything is covered in spices & tomatoes. Fry for a minute or two to get the eggplant started, it will start releasing its juices.
- Cover again and let cook till both eggplant and potatoes are tender. On medium low heat this should take 7-10 minutes. Cook time will depend on the variety and size of the vegetables. As the eggplants cook, they will release their water and that should be enough to cook everything.Check 1-2 times while cooking to make sure that the sabzi isn't getting dry else add ¼ cup to ⅓ cup water water. Note on Cooking Time - We don't like mushy potatoes or eggplants so I have noted the cooking time accordingly. If you prefer softer or mushy eggplants and potatoes, cook longer (about 5-7 minutes extra) to achieve the desired softness.
- Take off the lid and sprinkle the amchur powder, garam masala and crushed kasuri methi. Instead of amchur, you can use teaspoon of lemon juice. At this stage you can also add some chopped green chilies. On high heat, gently toss (vegetables are very soft right now!) everything for another 1-2 minutes. Garnish with chopped cilantro & serve.
Notes
- Picking the perfect eggplant is key! If your baingan is bad, your sabji will be sad. When you buy, look for green stems and caps—freshness alert!
- Don't soak your eggplant in water. They absorb water and the sabji tends to get watery. Cut the eggplant right when you are adding it to the cooking pot.
- Don't skimp on oil! Eggplant needs enough oil to cook properly and taste delicious.
- If you want, you can peel half of the eggplant, but I prefer keeping the peel on. You have to be extra careful of cooking time since peeled eggplants overcooks pretty quickly and can get mushy.
- When making any kind of sukhi sabzi, avoid adding too much water at the beginning. Once you sprinkle salt, the vegetables release their own juices. For the best flavor, let the sabzi cook in its own juices for as long as possible. If needed, you can always add water at any stage.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!