Bagara Baingan

This Bagara Baingan Recipe is a rich, flavorful and authentic Hyderabadi eggplant curry often served as a side dish with biryani, rice or Indian breads. The fried eggplants are simmered in thick nuts, seeds and tamarind based gravy to give a perfect vegetarian masterpiece for your dinner table! It's vegan and gluten-free!

Monsoon is the season when taste buds come alive spontaneously. The tongue searches for something delicious, spicy (other than the Jodhpuri Mirchi Vadas, Bread Pakoras or Palak Pakodas), and steaming hot vegetable gravy along with hot rice or chapatis that would tempt one to want more.

Today is one of those days of monsoon when I feel like cooking something delicious and spicy dinner for my ever appreciative family. Bagara Baingan pops into my mind. Yes! That’s it!!

Baingan is Hindi term for Eggplants / Brinjal / Aubergines!

About bagara baingan

• Bagara Baingan Masala or Baghare Baingan is a popular South Indian vegetarian dish from the Hyderabadi cuisine often served with dum biryanis or bagara rice.
• The juicy tender brinjal stuffed with spices simmering in thick gravy is a sight to behold! It is also called Sare Baingan, Nune Vankaya Kura or Vankaya Masala in Telugu.
• The stuffing of nutty sesame seeds, peanuts and coconut along with the spices when cooked in eggplants, it absorbs all the flavors beautifully giving an irresistible dish.
• The tamarind paste along with nuts and seeds in the masala gives a balanced sweet, sour and spicy flavor to this Hyderabadi brinjal curry.
• My recipe is easily customizable. You can absolutely control the spiciness, and the sourness in this recipe as you like.
• This Hyderabadi Baingan is a versatile vegetable curry that goes perfect with anything, be it rice or Indian breads.

Ingredients + Notes

Baingan (Eggplants): This recipe uses the small variety of the eggplant species which come in purple color with white stripes or in plain purple. They cook faster and have more flavor than the others.

Note: If you plan to use other huge variety of aubergines, then you have to cut them into small cubes and use. You cannot stuff them with the ground masala paste. Fry the aubergine cubes in oil and cook the ground masala to make the bagara baigan gravy. Add the fried aubergine cubes to the gravy and proceed with rest of the process.

Peanut Oil: I prefer to use peanut oil in this recipe. You can use any cooking vegetable oil to make the dish.

Tamarind Paste: the required sourness that comes in this Hyderabadi bagara baingan recipe is from the use of tamarind paste.

The other ingredients that we need for the gravy are : Mustard seeds, curry leaves sprigs, chopped onions, turmeric and Kashmiri red chili powder, and salt.

For Bagara Masala Paste

• Raw Peanuts: I have dry roasted the raw peanuts, peeled and then used in this recipe. However, feel free to leave the peel as is and proceed with process.
• Sesame and Coriander Seeds: I usually dry roast sesame, and coriander seeds and store in an airtight jar. I highly recommend you dry roast these two a little bit and then add to make the masala paste.
• Desiccated Coconut: I use desiccated coconut for this recipe, you can use grated dry coconut instead.
• The other ingredients: Garlic, ginger, green chilies, cumin, cloves and black peppercorns.

How to make Bagara Baingan?

Prepping Up:

• Wash, and pat dry the baingan (brinjal/ eggplants) and set it aside.
• Also, dry roast the peanuts, and allow it to cool. I usually peel the roasted peanuts to make this recipe for better texture and taste. This trick was taught to me by my neighborhood aunt who hails from Hyderabad.

Making the masala paste and stuffing the baingan:

1. In a blender jar, add:

• 4 tablespoons dry roasted and peeled peanuts,
• 3 tablespoons sesame seeds,
• 3 tablespoons desiccated coconut,
• 2 teaspoons chopped ginger,
• 7 medium sized peeled garlic,
• 1½ teaspoons cumin seeds,
• 1½ tablespoons coriander seeds,
• 8 black peppercorns,
• 4cloves and
• little salt (I added ¼ teaspoon)

2. Grind everything to a paste with very little water. We do not need wet runny paste, but a thick paste to stuff the brinjals and should be smooth enough make a nice gravy base.

3. Now, slit the baingan into quarters keeping the stem intact.

4. Next, stuff each slit baingan with the prepared ground masala (reserve ⅔ masala for the gravy base). Do not stuff too much at a time, a little bit is fine as we want brinjal to soak the flavors we added in paste.

5. Stuff all the slit baingan in the same manner and set it aside.

6. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a pan. When the oil is hot, add stuffed baingain.

7. Cook for 5 minutes on medium heat until they are slightly browned (you can simmer them for 10 minute to half cook the baingan). Take them out onto a plate and set aside.

8. In the same pan, heat the remaining oil. Once the oil is hot, add 1 teaspoon mustard seeds, 2 sprig curry leaves and fry for few seconds.

9. Add ½ cup onion and sauté until soft and pink.

10. Now, add the reserved ⅔ masala paste in the pan and sauté for 3-4 minutes on medium high heat.

11. Add ¾ teaspoon turmeric powder and 1 teaspoon Kashmiri red chilli powder, mix and cook for a minute.

12. Add salt, water depending upon the consistency of the gravy you like (I added 1 cup water to the masala) and bring it to a boil.

13. Gently place the baingan into the boiling gravy and simmer until brinjals are soft but intact.

14. Add 1 tablespoon tamarind pulp and give a very gentle mix (cooked brinjals shouldn't break). Simmer for 3-4 minutes, you will see oil floating on the top. To check if the eggplants are cooked well, insert skewer, it should pierce through smoothly.

15. Finally, add chopped coriander and mix.

Dish out this delicious bagara masala baingan and serve hot with rice, rotis, pooris, or any kind of your favorite biryani.

Serving Suggestion

Serve this Bagara Baingan curry with your favorite Chicken dum Biryani, Veg Dum Biryani, Mutton Biryani or any kind of Biryani recipes you like.

This delicious Hyderabadi baingan can be served with various rice recipes like simple steamed rice, Jeera Rice, Zafrani Pulao, a simple Vegetable Pulao, Peas Pulao or Spicy Matar Pulao.

The curry tastes fantastic with pudina lachha paratha as well as tawa garlic naan. You can also enjoy this baghare baingan with rotis, phulkas, masala parathas or puffed puris.

Storage

Store the leftover curry in a clean airtight container for up-to 5 days.

More Vegetarian Recipes for you

• Begun Bhaja
• Achari Bharwa Baingan
• Kaddu Sabzi (Pumpkin Sabzi)
• Achari Aloo Parwal
• Hyderabadi Khatti Dal

If you made my recipe for baghare baingan, please let me know how it turned out for you! I'd love to hear through your comments and ratings below.

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