Hyderabadi Bagara Baingan {Eggplant Curry}

Hyderabadi Bagara Baingan {Eggplant Curry} is a delicious dish made with baby eggplants. The small purple eggplants are fried and added to a curry made with raw peanuts, dry coconut, white sesame seeds and a few other spices.

Add some tangy tamarind water and aromatic curry leaves next to complete the curry also known by the name Nune Vankaya Kura in the language Telegu of Andhra Pardesh.

The Hyderabadi Bagara Baingan Origins

We can thank Hyderabadi cuisine for this popular dish called Baghare Baingan. The most apt description I've ever read of the dish was in this article which refers to them as an amalgam of Nizami and Andhara Cuisine.

In Indian cuisine, Hyderabadi Baingan are often served as a side with Hyderabadi Biryani. But in Pakistan, we typically eat them with Naan or plain steamed rice.

As is typical of most Hyderabadi cuisine, such as their Biryani Recipes and the ever-famous Mirchi ka salan, the taste of tamarind pulp, coconut and peanuts dominates. These flavors, when paired with the unique taste of the vegetable in question create an unforgettable dish.

How To Make The Delicious Bagara Baingan

The secret to really delicious Bagare Baingan is to use young brinjals (another name for eggplants). If you can’t source these then you can buy bigger ones and cut them into smaller pieces, but for the best brinjal curry, baby eggplants are the best.

The Hyderabadi Bagara Baingan Curry Ingredients

Whereas you will find many recipes for bagara baingan, often with lists of complex ingredients, this particular recipe is relatively simple. All you mainly need are the following two groups of ingredients:

The Whole Spices & Ingredients:

·     Cumin Seeds

·     Coriander Seeds

·     Raw Peanuts

·     Desiccated Coconut

·     Sesame Seeds

Spice Powders:

·     Turmeric Powder

·     Red Chili Powder

·     Salt

As always, any curry begins with a base of onions and ginger garlic paste. This curry has that and an addition of tamarind paste and curry leaves.

The end result is a curry with an explosion of flavor that pairs beautifully with the velvety smooth fried eggplants.

Cooking The Baingan

The technique for this recipe is really simple, just follow the step-by-step photos for added assistance.

Frying The Baingan

To begin with, score the eggplants at the base, making diagonal slits. This helps them cook faster when deep frying and also absorb the ground masala paste.

Next, take a cup oil in a deep wok and fry the baingan, a few at a time. Use an oil that has a high heat index, such as peanut oil, avocado oil or sunflower oil. Fry just till the skin is translucent and the flesh inside the slits starts to brown. Once done, remove the fried brinjals and set them aside while you prepare the curry.

Preparing the Dry Masala

For the next step, prep the dry whole ingredients for roasting and grinding. If you can find raw peanuts without the skin then you can save yourself some time at this stage. If not, then dry roast peanuts with the skin on and remove them to a clean kitchen towel. Gently rub the peanuts between the folds of the towel till the skin falls off and then grind them.

In any old original recipe for bagara baingan you’ll probably see a mention of fresh coconut. But in my recipe, I’ve used desiccated coconut for years since real coconut is difficult to source in the USA. It's a great substitute, but due to it’s dry texture it has to be roasted gently over a medium flame to prevent it from burning. In addition, you will need more than a cup of water to get the right consistency for the curry as the coconut will absorb a lot of water.

The other ingredients are easy to roast and grind, but I would recommend roasting each one separately, to achieve a perfect roast. Once everything is roasted, grind and mix it all together and set the mixture aside while you move on to the next and final step.

Preparing The Curry

Now it’s time to put everything together and make the actual curry. As with any curry, you start with an onion. For this curry, you need one medium onion, which is approximately one cup onions. Sauté it in some vegetable oil till it’s golden brown and then add the ginger garlic paste.

As soon as this turns light brown, add a little water, cover the pot and cook the mixture on a low flame. This is done in order to soften the small pieces of onions so that the curry can be a smooth paste.

After about 15 minutes, remove the lid, turn up the flame and add in all the dry powders. Stir, let cook for a few minutes and then add the ground paste you made and set aside earlier. At this point you will need to add another cup water, possibly more, as the coconut and nut paste will absorb a lot of liquid.

If possible, use hot water, or at a minimum, warm water, so the cooking process continues. Once your wet masala has a good consistency, add in the tamarind water and stir. This will turn the curry paste a light brown color which will deepen a little as it cooks.

Next, gently layer the fried eggplant in this fine paste, add in the curry leaves, cover and steam for 10 minutes to finish cooking. This allows all the flavors to blend in and the eggplant to fully cook. Now you’re ready to serve your Bagara Baingan with plain rice, Biryani or Roti!

Other Recipes To Try From The Blog

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• easy-eggplant-curry
• acorn-squash-curry
• sarson-ka-saag-mustard-greens
• achari-turai-sabzi
• hyderabadi-style-chicken-curry
• hyderabadi-khatti-daal

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