Baingan Bharta is a North Indian recipe made using roasted and mashed eggplant, cooked in onion, tomato base and Indian spices. This spicy smoked eggplant recipe is vegan, gluten free and pairs best with Indian flatbreads like Roti, Chapati or paratha.
Baingan (eggplant) may not be a favorite vegetable for many but surprisingly baingan bharta is loved by most!! Its a favorite at our home too and my kids love the spicy slightly tangy sabzi with their rotis.
I usually roast my baingan in the oven (or air-fryer) as its just more convenient and less messy with no compromise to taste as compared to the cooking on stove.
What is Baingan Bharta
Baingan Bharta is a popular Indian recipe made using roasted and mashed eggplant and hence the name baingan (eggplant) bharta (means mash).
Traditionally the eggplant is roasted over charcoal or direct fire to give it a smoky flavor. But you can also grill the eggplant in an oven or now a days air fryer. The roasted smoked eggplant is then stir fried in spices to flavor it and make bharta.
There are many ways you can make Baingan ka Bharta as the preparation style tends to differ as per different regions in India. The Maharashtrian version of bharta (no cook style) that I've grown up eating is made with onions, green chillies and with very little spices. Will share that recipe too someday.
For today's post I'm sharing an absolute favorite style of making this recipe, Punjabi Baigan Bharta. This version requires cooking the roasted, mashed eggplant with onion tomato masala and Indian spices and is finger licking delicious. So let's see how to make it!!
Punjabi Baingan Bharta Ingredients
Baingan, also known as eggplant, brinjal, aubergine or baingan (in hindi) is the key ingredient for this recipe. Select the large fleshy or plump variety of eggplant with less seeds. Small eggplant variety doesn't provide the same taste.
How to know if the eggplant has less seeds? It is a popular belief that the male eggplant identified by round shape (indentation) at bottom (base) tends to have fewer seeds.
Even after checking this, if you land up with the one with more seeds, simply remove the seeds after roasting and before mashing and adding it to the masala. The seeds tend to make the bharta bitter so preferably remove them before mashing.
In addition, you also need some onion, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, green chillies, cilantro and Indian spices to make this delicious dish.
How to make Punjabi Baingan Bharta:
Making Bharta is a two step process where first you roast the eggplant and then your stir fry it. Below is the step by step details for how to make it.
Prep the baingan:
Wash and pat dry the eggplant. Apply thin coat of oil all over. Make 4 deep slits and insert garlic cloves into each slit. You can roast your eggplant either on direct gas or in the oven or air fryer.
How to roast eggplant (baingan) in oven
Pre-heat the oven to 400F and line the baking tray with aluminium foil. Place the prepped eggplant on baking tray in the oven and let it cook (rotating the eggplant every 20 minutes for even cooking) for about 45mins - 1 hr or till properly cooked. It will shrink a little and look wrinkled.
Now broil the eggplant on high for about 10-12 mins turning the eggplant after 2-3 mins to provide uniform heat to all sides. Broiling helps provide the smoky flavor. Remove the tray out of the oven and allow time to cool.
How to roast eggplant (baingan) on gas (Stovetop - direct fire)
Place the prepped eggplant directly on heat and cook rotating at regular intervals for 10-15mins or until completely cooked. Insert a knife and check, if it pierces through then its done. Transfer to a plate or bowl and allow to cool.
How to roast eggplant (baingan) in air-fryer
Place the prepped eggplant inside the air fryer and cook at 400F for 20-30 mins or until completely cooked. Insert a knife and check, if it pierces through then its done. Transfer to a plate or bowl and allow to cool.
Mash the Baingan
Once the eggplant is cool enough to handle peel the skin off and then either with your hands or fork mash the eggplant. Keep this aside. At this point you can wither cook with it or refrigerate in airtight container for couple of days or freeze it for later use for up to a month.
To make baingan bharta:
In a vessel heat some oil and once hot add the cumin seeds (optional). Once they start spluttering add the onions and saute till they turn light golden brown. Stir in the ginger and green chillies and saute for few seconds and add the tomatoes, salt and mix until combined.
When the tomatoes turn soft add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, amchur (dry mango) powder, garam masala and coriander powder and mix well. Cook till this mixture starts leaving oil from the sides.
Now add the mashed eggplant(with garlic), mix well. until combined and cover and cook for couple of mins. Finish off with some coriander (cilantro) leaves.
That's it our easy and delicious Punjabi Baigan Bharta is ready. Serve it warm with Roti/naan/chapati or and Indian bread of your choice. Enjoy!
Tips to make the Best Baingan Bharta recipe
- Select the large plump variety of eggplant with less seeds.
- Roast the eggplant well, that's where all the flavor for this recipe comes from. You can roast it on stovetop or oven or air-fryer.
- Traditionally its done on direct heat on stovetop but I find that messy since the stove top looks really dirty afterwards. So I prefer making my baingan bharta in oven by roasting the eggplant in oven vs direct heat. Plus peeling the charred skin of oven roasted eggplant is much easy compared to the stove top.
- Broil you eggplant at the end of baking to add that stovetop like smoky charred flavor to it.
- Roast the garlic along with the eggplant for that depth of flavor.
- Add freshly grated/minced ginger. Another key ingredient that contributes to the bharta flavor and texture. Those bits of ginger in that smooth bharta taste amazing!! Add some more raw ginger bits towards the end if you love ginger like my husband are also game changer.
More delicious Punjabi recipes :
Hope you enjoy this Punjabi Baingan Bharta recipe as much as we do!! If you give this recipe a try, we did love to hear your feedback ❤️. Please rate by clicking stars ⭐️ in the recipe card. Thank you! You can also find me on Facebook Instagram Pinterest.
Baingan Bharta
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant baingan
- 2 tablespoon oil
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2-3 medium tomatoes finely chopped
- 2 tablespoon ginger finely chopped
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2-3 green chillies finely chopped, adjust to taste
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds zeera (optional)
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- ½ to 1 teaspoon red chilli powder adjust to taste
- ½ tablespoon coriander powder (dhania powder)
- ½ teaspoon dry mango powder (amchur powder), optional
- ½ teaspoon garam masala adjust to taste
- ¼ cup cilantro (coriander) leaves finely chopped
- salt to taste
Instructions
Prepping the eggplant:
- Wash and pat dry the eggplant. Apply a thin coat of oil on the eggplant.
- Make 4 deep slits in the eggplant using a knife. Insert garlic cloves into each slit.
- Now you can roast your eggplant either on direct gas or in the oven or air fryer.
To roast eggplant (baingan) in oven:
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F and line the baking tray with aluminium foil.
- Once the oven is heated to 400F, place the prepped eggplant on baking tray in the oven and let it cook (rotating the eggplant every 20 minutes for even cooking) for about 45mins - 1 hr or till properly cooked. It will shrink a little and look wrinkled.
- Now broil the eggplant on high for about 10-12 mins turning the eggplant after 2-3 mins to provide uniform heat to all sides. Broiling helps provide the smoky flavor. Remove the tray out of the oven and allow time to cool.
To roast eggplant (baingan) on gas (Stove top):
- Place the prepped eggplant (baingan) on direct heat and cook for about 10-15 mins or until completed roasted. Keep rotating the eggplant regular intervals to ensure it roasts evenly. Insert a knife and check, if it pierces through then its done.
- Transfer roasted eggplant to a plate and allow to cool.
To roast eggplant (baingan) in air-fryer:
- Place the prepped eggplant inside the air fryer and cook at 400F for 20-30 mins or until completely cooked. Insert a knife and check, if it pierces through then its done. Transfer to a plate or bowl and allow to cool.
Mash the eggplant (baingan):
- Once the roasted eggplant is cool enough to handle peel the skin off and then either with your hands or fork mash the eggplant. Keep this aside.
- At this point you can wither cook with it or refrigerate in airtight container for couple of days or freeze it for later use for up to a month.
To make baingan bharta:
- In a cooking pan heat oil and once hot add the cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering add the onions and saute till they turn light golden brown.
- When the tomatoes turn soft add the turmeric powder, red chilli powder, amchur (dry mango) powder, garam masala and coriander powder and mix well.
- Cook till this mixture starts leaving oil from the sides.
- Now add the mashed eggplant(with garlic), mix well. until combined and cover and cook for couple of mins. Finish off with some cilantro (coriander) leaves.
- Punjabi Baingan Bharta is ready! Serve it hot with Roti/naan/chapati or and Indian bread of your choice. Enjoy!
Notes
- I’ve used the oven to roast my eggplant but you could also roast it directly over fire or your grill or air fryer.
- To give it a more smoky flavor, I have broiled the eggplant after baking it. however this step is optional.
- If your tomatoes are sour in taste, feel free to omit the dry mango (amchur) powder.
- Adjust the ginger and green chillies to taste if you like it more/less hot (spicy).
- Roasting the garlic with eggplant adds great depth of flavor to this simple recipe.
Happy Cooking!!
Shweta
I made it the excat same way you have mentioned but my bharta had a bitter after taste to it. Not sure why this happened??
Hi Shikha, Sorry to hear that. There may be a few reasons for that. Undercooked eggplant can give a bitter taste or if you have some skin left left behind while mashing or the seeds especially large ones. These are common factors for bitterness in bharta. Did you ensure that your Baingan was well roasted or did it have lots of seeds?
Yes definitely. Thanks for stopping by!
Hello, if we are misssing the amchur powder could we replace it by lemon juce ?
Hi Raman, if your convection oven doesnt have a broil option you can simply bake/grill till the brinjal is thoroughly cooked and skip the broiling part. I usually broil the brinjal to give that gas stove roasting/charring effect. Would love to hear how it turned out 🙂
how do we broil in oven? i have onida convection and therte is no broil option displayed over it
Very yummy...
i love brinjal dish....this looks so tasty and yummy
looks yum! so tasty sidedish
One of my favourite side 🙂 looks so inviting too makes me hungry
scrumptious looking..
Wow you have explained it so well.. Loved the baigan bhartha
yummy...tempting dish...really nice