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Weight LossSimple + Healthy Roasted Eggplant Curry (baingan bharta)
April 17, 2012 By
Leanne Vogel
October 5, 2017
From the time I begin my day at 4am, I’m on the move. I workout, head to the office for 8-9 hours, come home to walk the dogs, make dinner, and prepare for an evening of nutrition consults.
I’m strapped for time, all the time but I’ll never, ever be willing to sacrifice a healthy meal due to my schedule. Ever.
So, I look for yummy dinners that can be ready in 30-40 minutes, leave us with leftovers for lunches, and appeal to both of us… which is not always an easy task!
I enjoyed my first bowl of baingan bharta in India and nearly fell over with excitement. It had a prominent smokey flavor, was a tad spicy, the eggplant made the dish meaty, and it was so ridiculously filling.
Not only that, but the Indian woman who’d made it for me said the recipe was really easy. Honestly, I kinda doubted her on that one. Of course it’s going to be easy for a person that’s probably made it a billion times… but she wasn’t wrong. This recipe really is easy.
And; like the many other Indian dishes I’ve been making, it’s packed with simple, wholesome ingredients.
And it makes lots. Lots and lots. I’ll be eating this all week… and I like that!
Inspired by Tasty Yummies
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I'm ready!- 2 medium-sized eggplants
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoon ghee *see note
- 2.5 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped fine (yield ~4 cups)
- 2 tablespoon diced garlic
- 2 tablespoon diced ginger root
- 2 cup diced tomato
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 tablespoon garam masala
- ½ teaspoon Himalayan rock salt
- ¼ cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro, divided
- 1 cup long grain brown rice, cooked according to package directions
- 4 gluten-free naan(optional)
- Preheat oven to 425F. Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise and sprinkle with salt on the flesh. Place 4 drops of olive oil on the pan and rub the flesh in the oil. Place flesh side down on a baking sheet and roast for 25-30 minutes until the flesh is tender and the outside is a nice dark charred color.
- Meanwhile, heat ghee and cumin seeds in a cast iron pan on medium-high heat. Cook for 1-2 minutes until toasted.
- Add the onion, ginger and garlic and saute for another 8-10 minutes, until the onions are tender and translucent.
- Add in the tomato, coriander, turmeric, masala and salt and cook another turn the heat to a medium low and allow it to cook about 5 to 10 minutes stirring often.
- Once the eggplant is done, peel off and discard the charred skin, scoop the flesh into a bowl, roughly mash it, and add it to the stove top mixture. Cook for another 3-5 minutes, just until heated.
- Sprinkle with half of the fresh cilantro, then throw it in your food processor and pulse. I like it a bit chunky still, so I didn’t pulse it too much.
- Serve over rice with a sprinkle of fresh cilantro and a gluten-free naan.
Roasting the eggplant gives it so much flavor. It really transforms the boring vegetable into something quite amazing. Kevin hates eggplants but loved this curry!
In other Indian food pursuits…
I tried to make gluten-free, vegan samosa again this weekend and was unsuccessful. I really thought I had the dough part down, so I finally went ahead and made the filling.
Unfortunately the dough didn’t hold together and ended up causing a huge kitchen disaster. The fire alarm going off, dogs barking, flour everywhere when I forgot to put the lid on the blender… it wasn’t a dull weekend, that’s for sure.
But the filling turned out really well so I had it with some palak sauce instead.
It was no samosa, but was still a pretty darn good lunch!
Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and I really want to nail this! Any suggestions or recipes you’ve tried that you think may help?
This entry was tagged: eggplant, flavors of india, indian food, onion
Hi! I'm Leanne (RHN FBCS)
a Functional Medicine Practitioner, host of the Healthful Pursuit Podcast, and best-selling author of The Keto Diet & Keto for Women. I want to live in a world where every woman has access to knowledge to better her health.
