There is restaurant Indian food, and then there is homemade Indian food. The former typically features menus with deep fried things, tikka masala things, and a flavor that I can only describe as “Americanized sweetness” (you’ll find this at Thai and Chinese restaurants too). The latter is something I came to know a bit in the homes of childhood friends and more recently, their grown-up kitchens. As you might expect, the homemade stuff tastes like something you could eat everyday, not something heavy enough to mess up the rest of your night.
One of these aforementioned friends cooked up some baingan bharta (mashed eggplant with tomatoes and a whole lot of delicious seasonings) and I was a little jealous that this video of Rajen wasn’t taken in my kitchen. I had been saving a couple of eggplants to finally try it out, and this was more than enough inspiration to get me through being in a kitchen with all four burners (and the oven) blazing.
A brief overview of how I made it:
Roast, steam, microwave, or grill eggplant (the big purple globe kind) until soft. Set aside and let cool.
Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds, which will sputter and pop. Add chopped onion, chopped bell pepper, minced hot pepper, minced garlic, and minced ginger. When everything has softened up, add chopped tomatoes, ground coriander, ground cumin, turmeric, cayenne pepper, garam masala, and salt. Cover and let it all simmer into a loose sauce (add a bit of water if things start to stick).
Remove skin from eggplant and roughly mash the flesh. Add to tomato sauce mixture and heat through. Garnish with fresh cilantro.
As you can plainly see, this is among the least photogenic edible things I’ve made. I doubt anyone will be reblogging this one on tumblr. What it lacks in appearance it makes up for in flavor: a little sweet, gently garlicky, and brightened up by lemon juice. The recipe can be found here. I found that the roasted eggplant provided enough of its own natural sweetness that I cut the amount of honey called for by half.
I’ve been meaning to post this for awhile now. Back in July, Tanveer (warning: beautiful photos will take over your computer screen when you click on that link) and Kelly invited me over for a supper of Bangladeshi food on their jealousy-inducing roof deck. We guests loaded up on insect repellent to brave Brooklyn’s hungry mosquitoes while Tanveer fired up the stove and braved the heat.
There was a Seussian sounding eggplant and egg dish, pairing deliciously soft eggplant with hard-boiled eggs. Is this a traditional Bangladeshi dish? Does it have a name? Is this ingredient combination common? Tanveer casually responded that he just tossed a bunch of seasonings on whatever was around, and if that makes it Bangladeshi, then cool. It was homestyle cooking at its finest.
I tried to re-create Tanveer’s creation at home by clearing out my spice pantry. Cumin, coriander, cardamom, and turmeric all went in, along with onions, garlic, and dried chilies. A squeeze of lime and some fresh cilantro were the finishing touches.
Then I attempted a Chinese version with rice wine, sweet bean paste, dried chilies, garlic, ginger, and soy sauce. I topped it all off with some garlic chives (I wanted scallions but didn’t have any).
Next time, a sabich.
