Today I'm going to show you an advanced dish from Hyderabad, which is located south-east of Mumbai. We can't just have easy dishes all the time. Sometimes it's fun to make something extraordinary and impress your guests. Don't be discouraged by the long list of ingredients, but you need a good blender. A hand blender won't do.
Here I use a lot of spices and a lot of time on the sauce. If you can't find small eggplants, you can use regular eggplant in slices and make them without cutting and filling. It is possible to divide the dish and fry the spices and grind them ready for the next day, if you think it is too much at once. Another tip is to make a double portion of the spice part and freeze for another time. The first time I tasted this dish was in 1986 at an "auntie"'s (it was so that all my mom's friends were aunts and all my dad's friends were uncles) and it is a unique taste and a fantastically good dish, but a dish that I actually haven't made in 25 years!! Ugh, it was almost embarrassing to think about. It was really time to dust off that recipe, and of course I won't let 25 years pass until next time :)
BAKER BAINGAN
4 tablespoons coconut pulp
4 tablespoons unsalted peanuts
4 tablespoons sesame seeds
1.5 tsp cumin
1.5 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 teaspoon oil
125 gr onion strips
500 gr small aubergines
5 tablespoons oil
fry the eggplants and take them out
15 curry leaves
1 teaspoon cumin
½ tsp fenugreek seeds
1 tsp onion seeds
1 teaspoon mustard seeds
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 cloves grated garlic
½ teaspoon turmeric
1.5-2 teaspoons salt
2 tsp chili powder
3 tbsp Nirus date chutney (own promotion)
3-4 dl water
(2 fresh chilies)
Fresh coriander
Procedure:
- Toast the coconut, peanuts, sesame seeds, cumin and coriander seeds separately in a dry frying pan.
- Heat a tablespoon of oil and fry the onion strips. Grind everything in a blender with ½-1 dl of water.
- Make a large cut in the eggplants, but leave them hanging together at the stem. Fill a good teaspoon with the ground spice mixture and fry them for 10 minutes in oil.
- Take them out and add curry leaves, cumin, onion seeds, mustard seeds and fenugreek seeds. After 30 seconds, add the spice paste and the rest of the ingredients except fresh coriander. Cook everything for 2 minutes and add the fried eggplants.
- Cook until the eggplants are soft and finish with fresh coriander.
Serve with cooked basmati rice , roti or naan, preferably without any spices since there is so much flavor in the dish.
