Sookhe bharwan baingan is a delicious side dish of spice-stuffed baby eggplants. It uses few ingredients – no onion, garlic or tomatoes – and can be put together easily if you have basic Indian spices on hand.

I have used in this recipe the “varikatri” brinjal which is in season locally – this has a pretty purple-and-white striped skin and a mild tasting fleshy interior.

I tried looking for its English name – couldn’t find an authoritative translation but from its appearance, I guess it is the fairy tale eggplant. Can my learned readers confirm?

You Need:

• Baby eggplant – 300 grams (6-7 pieces)
• Coriander powder – 2 teaspoons
• Cumin powder – 1 teaspoon
• Red chili powder – 1 teaspoon
• Amchoor powder – 1/3 teaspoon
• Turmeric powder – 1/3 teaspoon
• Salt – to taste
• Salt – 1/3 teaspoon
• Peanut oil – 1 tablespoon

How To Make Sookhe Bharwan Baingan:

1. Quarter and soak

Slice each eggplant into quarters, without cutting all the way through – let the joint at the head remain intact.

Keep a bowlful of salted water nearby. As soon as you slice each eggplant, drop it into the salted water. This is to prevent the browning of eggplant on being cut.

Let the quartered eggplant stand in salted water for 20 minutes.

Drain and wash.

3. Spice and stuff

In an dry bowl, measure out the spices: coriander Powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder, red chili powder, amchoor powder.

Add salt to taste to the spice powders. Stir and mix.

Pat the eggplant with a kitchen towel to dry out excess moisture. We are now ready to stuff the eggplant.

Pry each eggplant slit open and stuff in some of the spice powder – fit the powder near the head of the eggplant and clamp the open ends shut. Remember to divide the spice powder evenly across all the eggplants – don’t overstuff to start with and then have nothing for the last ones!

3. Cook

Take a flat non-stick pan, just large enough to hold all the stuffed eggplants in a single file – a pan with 8-9 inch diameter works best for 7 small eggplants.

Heat the pan on medium heat. Pour half a tablespoon of oil into the pan, give it a swirl to coat the base evenly and place the eggplants in the pan close to the source of heat.

Cook the eggplants covered and undisturbed for five minutes.

Shake the covered pan gently to move eggplants around. When you start hearing crackling sounds (~2-3 minutes), uncover and turn the eggplants over using a wooden spatula or tongs.

From this point on, uncover every 2-3 minutes to check for doneness. Keep moving the positions of the eggplants to roast them from all sides evenly. Drizzle a few drops of oil whenever some part looks dry.

When all sides are roasted well, switch off the heat. Let the eggplant stand for another ten minutes, covered.

Sookhe bharwan baingan (dry spice-stuffed eggplant) is ready.

Serve on the side with an Indian meal of rice/chapatis, curries/dal, raita.

Meal below: sookhe bharwan baingan with coconut rice, vegetable red lentil soup, pineapple raita.

Notes:

Looking for more stuffed vegetable dishes? You must try: