Bagara Baingan is a scrumptious Hyderabadi dish. Baby eggplants are simmered in a spicy peanut sauce until soft and delicious. Serve with Biryani and Enjoy!!
Hyderabadi cuisine is very famous for its Biryanis and other rich and delicious Mughal & Nizam influenced dishes. Hyderabadi dum biryani is a delicacy that has to be enjoyed to describe its taste. But being an eggplant lover, my favorite dish is this Bagara Baingan.
This is a 100% vegan dish that is spicy, creamy and absolutely delicious. Bagara Baingan was a standard item on all of the wedding menus and other special occasions when I was growing up. That is not the case these days, but you can easily make the dish at home with my recipe.
Restaurant Style Bagara Baingan:
Baby eggplants are simmered in a creamy, spicy peanut-sesame sauce until nice and tender. This is a dish that has lots of flavors – it’s spicy, tangy, slightly sweet. So achieving that balance is the key. I would suggest tasting the curry as you go, to get make the right balance.
Ingredients needed for Hyderabadi Baby Brinjal Curry:
Today’s recipe is adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer. It is ended up choosing a dish that is very close to my heart (and tummy) and the city I’m from, Hyderabad. Here are the main ingredients needed to make this dish:
- Baby Eggplant – Purple variety and choose smallish ones that are blemish-free.
- For the Sauce/ Gravy:
- Nuts & Seeds – Peanuts, sesame & poppy seeds, dry grated coconut
- Spices – Whole Coriander seeds
- Dry red chilies
- Onion, ginger and garlic
- Tamarind – for some tanginess
- Jaggery – for slight sweetness
How make Bagara Baingan:
First step is to make the sauce for the curry.
- Dry roast the peanuts until lightly browned on all sides. Remove into a bowl.
- In the same pan, dry roast coriander, sesame, poppy seeds and dry red chilies until browned and aromatic. Add to the bowl with peanuts.
- In the same pan, roast dry grated coconut until golden brown. Remove into the bowl.
- Cook onions, ginger and garlic in 2 tsp oil until browned around the edges. Add to the bowl.
- Once all the ingredients are cool enough to handle, grind to a coarse paste along with salt and turmeric. Set it aside until ready to use.
Next is to prep the Eggplants:
Keep the crown intact and make a slit ¾th of the way through the eggplant by making a ‘+’ on the bottom. Prep the eggplants just before making the curry. If not, they will oxidize and turn dark.
Once the sauce and eggplants are ready, then make the curry. Here’s how:
- Heat oil in the same skillet, add cumin, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Cook for 5-10 seconds.
- Heat oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the eggplants and cover and cook until their skins blister and they are fork-tender, about 12-15 minutes. Transfer the eggplants to a plate.
- Now add the peanut-coconut paste along with ½cup of water. Reduce the flame to medium-low. Cover the skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the eggplants have absorbed the flavors from the gravy, about 5-10 minutes. Curry is ready to serve!!
Bagara Baingan | Hyderabadi Baby Eggplant Curry
Ingredients
For the Peanut-Sesame Sauce/ Gravy:
- 2 teaspoons Oil
- ½ cup Peanuts (use the ones without skins, if available)
- 1 teaspoon Whole Coriander seeds
- 2 tablespoons Sesame seeds
- 1 tablespoons Poppy seeds
- 3~4 Dry Red Chilies, broken
- ½ cup Dry grated Coconut
- 1 Small Onion, chopped
- 1" Ginger, chopped
- 2~3 Garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon Turmeric
- To taste Salt
For Bagara Baingan:
- 10~12 Baby Eggplants, slit ¾ of the way through by making an 'X' on the bottom
- 2 tablespoons Oil
- ¼ teaspoon Fenugreek seeds
- 1 teaspoon Mustard Seeds
- 6~8 Curry leaves
- 2 tablespoons Tamarind paste
- 1~2 teaspoons Jaggery
Instructions
Make the Peanut-Sesame Sauce:
- Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Dry roast the peanuts until lightly browned on all sides, about 3-4 minutes. Transfer them to a medium-size bowl.
- In the same pan, dry roast coriander, sesame, poppy seeds and dry red chilies until browned and aromatic, about 1-2 minutes. Add the seeds to the peanuts.
- Add the dry grated coconut to the skillet and toast until lightly browned, about 30 seconds. Add this to the peanut-spice mixture.
- Heat oil to the skillet; add onions, ginger and garlic. Cook until they turn lightly browned all over, about 5~6 minutes. Place these onions with the oil that's leftover on the peanuts mixture. Let cool slightly, then grind into a thick paste along with 1 cup of water, salt and turmeric.
Prep the Eggplant:
- Keep the crown intact and make a slit ¾th of the way through the eggplant by making a '+' on the bottom.
Make Bagara Baingan:
- Heat oil in the same skillet, add mustard, fenugreek seeds and curry leaves. Cook for 5-10 seconds.
- Add the eggplants and cover and cook until their skins blister and they are fork-tender, about 12-15 minutes.
- Now add the peanut-coconut paste along with ½cup of water. Reduce the flame to medium-low. Cover the skillet and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the eggplants have absorbed the flavors from the gravy, about 5-10 minutes. Curry is ready to serve!!
Notes
- Prep the eggplants just before making the curry. If not, they will oxidize and turn dark.
- Bagara Baingan is best served hot or at room temperature the same day it is cooked.
- Leftovers can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.
Nutrition
How to serve:
Bagara Baingan pairs well with biryani, so serve with Hyderabadi vegetable biryani or this vegetable dum biryani. It can also be served with simple roti or naan.
vaishali sabnani
Tempting clicks..and a flavorful dish..wish could grab some.
Kalyani
what a stunner of a recipe – and delicious gravy too 🙂 we are not that into eggplants, but this looks worth a real try !
Archana Potdar
Your pics are so stunning I am finding it difficult to concentrate on the recipe.Seriously with a stunner of a recipe you should not be allowed to post equally stunning pics. Will come back after i munch on something and read the recipe.
Archana Potdar
I tried commenting after I had my snack but there was connectivity problems. I love the recipe Pavani its awesome.
Nisha Sundar
Lovely recipe. I stopped making brinjal dishes as no one else at home likes it. Should ask them to look at yours for lil inspiration. 😉
Rajani S
The baingan looks good and the clicks are great…
Saras
Scrumptious Curry..Looks very appealing..
Susan
The ingredient list for the Bagara Baingan section does not match the instructions. The cumin and fenugreek seeds are not in the ingredient list, but are in the instructions. The mustard seeds, tamarind paste and jaggery are on the ingredient list, but are not in the instructions. I used 1 tsp each of cumin and fenugreek seeds and added them with the black mustard seeds and the curry leaves for 5- 10 seconds in the oil before adding the eggplants. I added the tamarind paste and 1 tsp raw cane sugar to the paste when it was in the pot. I did not grind the red chilies – I meant to put them whole in the pot, but forgot. Very good, though could have ground thee paste more so it was smoother.
cookshideout
Hi Susan, thank you for letting me know about the missing ingredients. Cumin seeds in the instructions was a typo, it should be mustard seeds and I added fenugreek seeds in the ingredient list. Cumin seeds can also be used but traditionally only mustard seeds are used in this dish. A sweetener is a great addition – balances the spicy and tangy flavors.