About Bagara Baingan

The term “Baghare Baingan” loosely translates to “Eggplants cooked with a tempering”, where the term Baghar translates to Tempering & Baingan to Eggplants. As the name implies, Bagara Baingan is made by first tempering the whole spices like mustard & cumin. Bagara Baingan has a lot of similarities with the Andhra & Telangana’s Gutti Vankaya, Karnataka’s Ennegayi, Maharashtra’s Bharli Vangi & Bharwa Baingan. The ingredients like peanuts, sesame and coconut and even most of the spices used are the same. Whole Eggplants are slit with the stem intact & cooked in the gravy. But bagara baingan is not made with stuffed eggplants while the others are made by stuffing them. Surprisingly all these taste very different. Telengana people also refer to this Bagara Baingan as Nune Vankaya, since brinjals are fried in oil before adding to the curry. This step of frying the eggplants make them tender and super soft, so they absorb the flavors well. Imagine the flavors of fried eggplants cooking with spices, curry leaves, roasted peanuts, sesame, coconut and tamarind. Your house smells amazing and delicious! Love Brinjals? Here are some for you to checkBaingan BhartaBrinjal ChutneyBrinjal FryAloo BainganBrinjal curry

Ingredients & Substitutes

Eggplants/ Brinjal: Traditionally small, young and fresh eggplants are used for this. No compromises on this! Do not use large eggplants. Your dish won’t taste the same. Purple or green eggplants are also okay. If you don’t eat eggplants, okra also known as Bhindi can be used. Follow the recipe without any modifications. Peanuts: We roast the raw peanuts, cool them & deskin optionally before grinding. You may buy pre-roasted skinned peanuts to skip this step. Add them directly to the grinder. There is no substitute to this. If you are allergic to peanuts, you may use almonds or cashews. Sesame Seeds: White sesame seeds are used and there is no substitute for this. Black sesame seeds won’t work here. Tamarind: You will use dry tamarind and soak it to extract the juice. You may use store bought tamarind concentrate or paste. Indian tamarind is used here & it is sour. If you use Thai tamarind, it won’t taste the same. So add some lemon juice while serving. Coconut: Traditionally dried coconut (copra) is used. If you do not have that you may use fresh coconut or desiccated coconut.

How to Make Bagara Baingan (Stepwise Photos)

Preparation

  1. On a medium heat, dry roast 2 tablespoons peanuts until golden & aromatic. Turn the flame to low and add 1 tablespoon sesame seeds to the hot pan. When they begin to splutter, switch off the stove. Add 3 tablespoons coconut and stir in the hot pan. Set aside to cool. If using fresh coconut, toast it separately (first remove the peanuts and sesame to a plate). Toast until aromatic.
  2. Cool and add them to a grinder jar. If you want you may remove the skin of the peanuts before grinding. Blend them with little water till slightly coarse or smooth to suit your taste.
  3. If you want a smooth curry, grind it smooth. I do it moderately coarse. Set this aside.
  4. Add 2 tablespoons tamarind & ¼ cup hot water to a bowl and soak it. When it cools down, squeeze and extract the juice. For convenience you may add more water if you want. Set this aside.
  5. Wash baingan under running water. Take 2 to 3 cups water in a large bowl. Add half a teaspoon of salt. Keep the stems intact on the baingan and slit them partially from the bottom, making portions. I made 4 cuts on each brinjal. Keep them immersed in the water.
  6. Traditionally these are deep fried. But you can also shallow fry like the way I did. Heat 3 to 4 tablespoons oil in a small pan. When the oil is medium hot, remove the eggplants from water (one by one) and wipe them with kitchen tissue/ cloth and add them to the hot oil. Fry them on a medium heat. Choose a small pan for frying, can use less oil.
  7. Fry until the skin of brinjal looks blistered completely. This means they are almost cooked but not edible. Transfer these to an plate. Set them aside.

Make Bagara Baingan

  1. Retain 2 tbsp oil in the pan and transfer the rest to a bowl. Add ½ teaspoon cumin seeds and ¼ teaspoon mustard seeds.
  2. When they splutter, add ¾ cup chopped onions, 1 sprig curry leaves and sprinkle ¼ teaspoon salt. Fry until the onions are lightly golden.
  3. Add 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste and fry until the raw smell goes away.
  4. Add ½ cup water to the pan, pour the blended peanut mixture. Add ½ to ¾ teaspoon garam masala, ½ to ¾ teaspoon coriander powder, 1/8 teaspoon turmeric and ½ to ¾ teaspoon red chili powder. Stir and cook on a low to medium flame.
  5. Filter the tamarind juice or add paste. Stir and cook. Now you can add more salt, spice and more tamarind juice to suit your taste.
  6. When the mixture begins to bubble up, add fried brinjals. Check the consistency and add more water if required.
  7. Cover and cook till the brinjal wilts off and are completely cooked through. Add chopped coriander leaves. Serve bagara baingan with biryani, pulao, bagara rice or phulka.

Pro Tips

Immerse Eggplants in Salted Water: We immerse cut brinjals in salted water so they don’t turn bitter. If the eggplants are naturally bitter, it is said that the bitterness is drawn out by the salted water. Do not leave cut brinjals on the counter, they will impart bitter tones to the curry. Taste Test: Sesame seeds in the shelf turn rancid fast due to seasonal changes and temperature variations. So always taste test before using them. Peanuts: If your peanuts are not so good, I suggest removing the skin before grinding. They should be roasted well until golden and even the nut should turn light brown (not only the skin) else the gravy will have the raw peanut flavor. Related Recipes

Recipe Card

Bagara Baingan first published in April 2015. Updated & republished in November 2022.