Spice Stuffed Baked Baby Eggplants-Baigan Masala
This recipe is called Bhabi’s baigan (older SIL’s eggplants) by my family. These Spice Stuffed Baked Baby Eggplants pr Baigan Masalaare a delicious and hands off way to enjoy a traditional dish. I am always on a quest to make things hands of an practical. When I succeed, I am happy, and I celebrate by sharing the recipe with you.
My husband is the oldest in his family. In North India, the oldest brothers wife is called Bhabi. This extends to cousins as well. I am therefore undisputed Bhabi or elder sister-in-law to almost every family member his generation. And now I even have an eggplant recipe to show for it.
My Story about Spice Stuffed Baked Baby Eggplants or Baigan Masala
This recipe has emerged as an accidental effort to simplify my mother-in-law’s signature spice stuffed baby eggplants. Her recipe involves the spice stuffing, but cooks this on the stovetop on low heat for at least an hour. The flavors develop as the eggplant and spices cook low and slow. I loved this idea but am always nervous about anything that takes so long to cook on the stovetop. So I tried this in the oven, the results were pretty close to the real deal. I do add an extra tomato or two, to allow a little more moisture to the sauce. However, all said, the fix and forget nature of the dish. Several purists have offered accolades for this dish.
About the Baby Eggplants
Eggplants come in all shapes and sizes. We call these small eggplants baby eggplants. The reality though is that they are small eggplants. It is very important to get good quality tender eggplants for this dish. If you let them sit for more than a couple of days, they get seedy. If you cannot find the baby eggplants, fresh Japanese eggplants can be used for this dish. Recipes using eggplants on this site, include Alu Baigan – or Potatoes cooked with eggplants and of course Baigan Bhartha. In case you have not guessed, Baigan is the Hindi word for eggplants.
How to Enjoy Your Baigan Masala
Now for some reason, this dish is rarely served alone. It is usually a part of a festive meal, with a variety of other dishes. Some good dishes to mesh this with would be, the Mathura Shimla Paneer or Mushroom Bhuna.
My variation of spice stuffed eggplants inspired by the flavors of northern India.
Ingredients
- 2 pounds baby tender eggplants (about 15 to 20)
- 2 teaspoons panch phoron (Bengali Five Spice) powdered
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon amchur (dried mango powder)
- 3/4 teaspoon red chili powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 medium red onion, cut into a dice
- 1 tablespoon ginger paste
- 2 tomatoes, cut into a fine dice
- Salt to taste
- Cilantro for garnishing
Instructions
- 1. Cut the eggplants halfway, almost all the to the top but do not separate from the top. Repeat the same on the other side, so in other words, cut into quarters.
- 2. Make a paste with the panch phoron powder, yogurt, amchur, red chili powder and salt.
- 3. Gently smear generously into the eggplants. Note, depending on the size of eggplants you might need more spice mixture, in which case increase in the same proportion mentioned.
- 4. Set this aside for about 30 minutes.
- 5. Heat the oil on medium heat for about a minute and add in the onion and cook for about 3 to 4 minutes, until the onions are fairly soft.
- 6. Add in the ginger and the tomatoes and cook until the tomatoes are nice and soft.
- 7. Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees and line the eggplants in a single layer in a casserole.
- 8. Top the eggplants with the freshly prepared sauce and bake uncovered for 45 minutes. The eggplants should be nice and soft with a thick coating sauce that has meshed and married the stuffing spices.
- 9. Serve the eggplants with chapatis.