Bagara Baingan Recipe (Eggplant Curry)

If you are looking for a perfect companion dish for your Biriyani, nothing can be as exciting and delicious as Bagara Baingan Recipe. The recipe is made with tender eggplants and coconut. The creamy and flavour-packed delicacy has been a must-try in Hyderabad and surrounding areas. It has now moved across the entire Indian region, making it the most beloved part of Indian cuisine. We thought of checking out the best of Bagara baingan recipe to help you achieve an exceptional side dish for any sort of cuisine you may opt for.

Bagara Baingan is an exciting dish that should be the right one for the best vegan and gluten-free eggplant dish is a specialty of Hyderabadi cuisine and is often served with Biryani.

Ingredients & Substitutes for Bagara Baingan

The ingredients used for Bagara Baingan include:

• Eggplants/ Brinjal – Make sure that the eggplants are tender and as much young as possible. If you do not like Brinjal, you can use Okra or Ladies Finger for the recipe.
• Peanuts – Roasted peanuts.
• Sesame seeds – Use only white sesame.
• Tamarind
• Coconut – Normally use dried coconut. But don’t have then you may have to use fresh coconut.

The quantity and measurement for the Bagara Baingan recipe would include

• ¼ cup tamarind seedless, soaked in ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil for frying the eggplants
• 10 baby eggplant tops cut off and slit lengthwise
• ¼ cup peanuts shelled
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut – natural
• ⅓ cup cooking oil 
• 1 red onion medium, sliced finely
• 4 tablespoons ginger-garlic paste
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon coriander powder
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder 
• 2 Thai green chillies

The Kashmiri chili powder is used to give the authentic aroma and color to the recipe. However, if you do not have the Kashmiri chili powder, you can choose the regular chili powder in a slightly higher quantity.

How to Make Bagara Baingan recipe?

Let’s go through the Bagara Baingan recipe in a stepwise guide. This will help avoid any sort of confusion.

Preparation  for the Bagara Baingan recipe

The preparatory steps will include

• Dry roast two tablespoons of peanuts till golden brown. Add one teaspoon of white sesame seeds to the hot pan. When the sesame seeds begin spluttering, add three tablespoons of dried coconut and turn off the heat. Mix well and set aside.
• Once it is cooled, add to a grinder jar and blend them with a little water. You can remove the skin of peanuts if you do not like them with skin.
• Grind it to your liking. Set it aside
• Add two tablespoons of tamarind to a quarter cup of hot water and soak it. Once it cools down, squeeze and extract the juice. You may add more water if needed. Set it aside.
• Wash the Brinjal under the running water. Slit them sidewise. Keep the stem intact. Take 2 to 3 cups of water in a large bowl. Add half a teaspoon salt. Keep the brinjals immersed in water.

Cooking Instructions

Once the above preparation has been made, follow the cooking instructions to make Bagara Baingan here –

• For the Bagara Baingan Recipe, brinjals are typically deep-dried. However, you can choose to shallow fry them as well. To do this, you can heat 3 to 4 tablespoons of oil. When the oil is moderately hot, remove the eggplants from the water and add to the oil. Fry them on medium heat.
• Fry the brinjals until the skin looks completely blistered. This will mean they are cooked completely. However, they may not be fit or comfortable to eat yet. Set them aside on a plate.
• In the pan that you cooked the brinjals in, leave 2 tablespoons of oil and transfer the rest to a bowl. Add half a teaspoon each of mustard and cumin seeds to the hot oil.
• When they begin spluttering, add spring leaves, curry leaves, and a little salt. Fry till the onions are light brown.
• Add one teaspoon of ginger garlic paste and fry till it smells aromatic.
• Add a half cup of water to the pan and then add the blended mixture of peanuts, white sesame and coconut. Add garam masala, coriander powder, turmeric powder, and red chili powder. Keep stirring and cook on a medium flame.
• Add the tamarind juice you prepared. You can add more salt, spices, and tamarind juice to suit your taste.
• When the mixture begins to bubble up, add the cooked brinjals. You can add more water and salt to maintain consistency.
• Cover the pan and cook till the brinjals are completely done.

That does it. You can serve Bagara Baingan with Pulao, Phulka, Bagara rice, or Biriyani.

Expert Tips for the Best Bagara Baingan

While we have provided the best tips on how to prepare Bagara Baingan, it may also be a good idea to follow a few experts or Pro tips to help you get a better experience with Bagara Baingan preparation.

• Once you slit the brinjals, soak them in salted water. This prevents the brinjals from browning. It also adds more flavor to your dish.
• We have started to roast all ingredients together. However, each of the ingredients comes with different burn points. It is thus advisable to roast each of the ingredients separately and then mix and grind them.
• If the peanuts are quite raw, it is advisable to remove the skin and roast them. That way, you can roast them until the peanuts are completely brown. Otherwise, your curry will have the raw smell of peanuts
• Use white til or sesame. Don’t use black sesame.
• Use baby eggplants for the best-tasting Bagara Baingan. If you do not get them, you can get the regular large brinjals and cut them. Cook them till the skin softens and the white flesh turns brown.
• You can use Peanut oil, sunflower oil, and avocado oil for the best taste.
• The best and most authentic way to make tamarind water is to soak tamarind pulp in water. However, if this is not possible for you for any reason, you can use any readily available tamarind paste or concentrate.

FAQs

More related recipes to try at home:

Biriyani

Brinjal Curry Recipe

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