ALOO BAINGAN (POTATOES & AUBERGINE CURRY)

ALOO BAINGAN (POTATOES & AUBERGINE CURRY)

This dish has some fond memories for me. Especially because I used to never like baingan(aubergine/eggplant), but baingan combined with aloo is truly awesome and likeable. This dish never forgets to remind me of the movie, “Sparsh” where Naseeruddin Shah played the role of a blind man and did such a wonderfully convincing act of it. He is an actor par excellence. The scene of the hostel where the blind kids sing, “ Hai re kaisi uljhan, fir se aloo baingan”.  I had made even a comic strip on this, a few years ago.

Click on the comic strip to see the larger picture.

Aloo Baingan

Ingredients

Aubergines (Eggplants/Brinjals) – ½ kilo

Potatoes – 1 big

Onion – 1

Tomatoes – 1

Mustard – 1 tsp

Cumin seeds – 1 tsp

Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

Red chilly powder – 1 tsp

Coriander powder – 1 tsp

Cumin powder – 1 tsp

Asafetida – a pinch

Dry Mango powder (Amchoor powder) – 1 tsp

Salt as per taste

Oil – 1 tbsp

Method

De-stem the aubergines, Chop them into cubes and let them soak in warm water with some salt and turmeric for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, peel and chop the potatoes into cubes. Chop the onions and tomatoes as well. Keep aside. Now the drain the water off the aubergines and rinse well.

In a wok, Add one tbsp oil, add the mustard seeds & cumin seeds, when the mustard starts to splutter. Add the onions, when the onions become transparent, add in the tomatoes and cook until tomatoes are soft, then add the potatoes and the aubergine cubes and mix well, now add the chilly powder, turmeric powder, asafetida, amchoor powder and salt as per taste. Mix everything well, cover with a lid and cook on a low flame. After every 5 minutes give it a stir, you will see that the vegetables have become moist. Always allow it to cook in its own juices. If you see that there is no water, add a bit and cook covered on a low flame. After about 10 minutes you will notice that the potatoes are cooked, check if cooked with a spoon, if not wait until the potatoes are cooked. Aubergines usually get cooked quite fast. Once it is done, serve hot with chappatis or u can have it with dal and rice. Enjoy the Aloo baingan.