Eggplant of the Maharajas...

Well, almost. Pretty close. My maharaja liked it, anyway! We all believe what we believe for the reasons we believe, and I absolutely believe that I spent at least one lifetime on the Indian subcontinent. Though I've not yet visited India in this lifetime, I am filled with a sort of hiraeth whenever my nose catches the scent of black cardamom or I pass a sari shop. From my first bite of saag paneer when I was in college, I've been hooked on the rich and infinitely varied culinary traditions of Indian cuisine. I have books. Oh, I have lots of books. Some better than others, and thanks to the goodness of the internet, I now have one particularly AWESOME BOOK. And in this awesome book, Cooking Delights of the Maharajas: Exotic dishes from the princely house of Sailana on page 153 there is a recipe for the humble eggplant or "brinjal" as it is referred to in this book. And it rocks! I've made some tweaks, baking instead of frying and whatnot, but the basis is there and it's so so so so delicious! And eggplant is not really my bag. So here goes. The ingredients have been somewhat modified and converted from grams, so you won't need to convert them. Don't tell Prince Digvijaya Singh.

Baked Baghare Baingan

Things you will need:

A blender, preferably one that fits a mason jar. (Yep, you read that right!)
One or two oven safe baking dishes

Ingredients:
Approximately 3-4lbs Eggplant
1/3 Cup Grated Coconut (unsweetened)
2 tbsp Tahini OR Sesame seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp Molasses
1 and 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
a pinch of salt
2 small dried red chili peppers
1 and 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
1 tsp tumeric
1 black cardamom pod
Approximately 2 inch piece of fresh or frozen ginger
4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp Yellow split chickpeas/Chana Dal
A sprinkle of garam masala powder
Water
1/4 cup olive oil (vegan) or ghee (non-vegan)
Tamarind sauce (3 tbsp or to taste)


Step 1: Wash the eggplants and split them in quarters, leaving the stem intact. They should appear whole, but with deep cuts.

Step 2: Place the coconut, tahini, cumin, molasses, peanut butter, pinch of salt, dried red chilies, coriander, tumeric, black cardamom, ginger, garlic, yellow split chickpeas/Chana Dal, the sprinkle of garam masala and a bit of water, maybe 1/4 cup, in the jar of a blender, or in a mason jar that fits your blender.

Blend until smooooooooth!

Step 3: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Stuff the eggplants and place them in an oven safe cooking vessel.

(At this point in the process, I realized I had way more stuffing than tiny eggplants, but, you know, it's that time of year, so I had more in my fridge and got it ready. I adjusted the quantity of eggplant accordingly in the list of ingredients. I used little roulade holder thingies to keep the larger eggplants together. You could also use string. )


Step 4: Once all the eggplants are filled and arranged in the oven safe dishes, put any remaining stuffing over the eggplants. Then, put the olive oil, tamarind sauce and enough water in the jar to release the sticky left over stuffing goodness, and shake it up. Pour this mixture over the eggplant.

Step 5: Bake in 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and fragrant. You'll know when it's done, because your whole kitchen will smell amazing and your salivary glands will be going crazy. Allow to cool slightly and serve hot with naan, rice, yogurt, or whatever your imagination deems a worthy accompaniment.

 Enjoy!