Baingan Ka Bhartha with Matar(Peas)

(Baba Ghanoush-eggplant dip)

This is one of those dishes which me & my dear hubby both likes or I should say love. We can eat it everyday with anything like roti, parantha, bread, rice,salt crackers or just with the spoon yep! to get it’s real taste you just need to eat it by itself. Though the bhartha I make is fairly tasty enough but I still love the taste of bhartha which my mom makes, it use to be in big demand among my colleagues back in India.

I call Bhartha the Indian version of Baba Ghanoush, which is a dish from Middle East & use tahini in its preparation.I know many people who think bhartha is a time consuming dish, but it's not. It's only the roasting part which take some time other than that it's very easy to cook. For roasting baingan(eggplant) you can click here.

Ingredients :

1. Pulp(meat) of 2 Medium size Roasted Eggplants
2. Half a cup frozen sweet Peas
3. One Large Onion diced
4. Two Roma Tomatoes diced
5. Green Chillies chopped 3-4
6. Jeera(cumin seeds) – 1 tsp.
7. Turmeric-1/4 tsp.
8. Red chilli powder-1 tsp.
9. Dhania(coriander) Powder-1& ½ tsp.
10. Garam Masala-1/2 tsp.
11. Salt-as per taste
12. Oil-2 tablespoon
13. Fresh Cilantro-handful

Method :

1. First & the most important step for making bhartha is to roast the baingan aka eggplant. How to roast an eggplant.

2. Once the roasting is done, heat little oil in some heavy Karahi or wok.Add cumin seeds to it & when they start to splutter add onions and sprinkle half a tsp. of salt. Saute them a little bit on med. high flame around 5-7 min.

3. When the onions become translucent add tomatoes and chopped green chillies, stir them.

4. After 5-7 min. when tomatoes become soft add eggplant meat & peas(frozen). Mix everything gently and let it cook for 2-3 min. then add turmeric, chilli powder, dhania powder, garam masala & salt(remember we used the salt on the onions also so please adjust the quantity) mix it & let it cook for around 10 min. covered in med.-low gas( If u are using less oil then u might need to stir it more frequently).

5. Before serving put chopped cilantro on top & serve it warm.