Baingan Ki Boorani

Another Brinjal Delight! You'll love it, I am sure!

Baingan Boorani is an exotic dish of Uttar Pradesh, India that traces its origin to Afghanistan. Of course, this is my aunt's version of it (she adds ginger-garlic paste extra to the batter).  She had taken the inspiration from a book by Madhur Jaffery. The grilled/tandoor/shallow fried asian eggplants topped with garlic flavored yogurt/curds. Its heavenly. The perfect recipe for this monsoon. Relish It!

When my mom went on her UNICEF trip, an Afgani women had introduced this dish to her too, but she had called it "Banjan Bouranee".

This dish has different variations to it. Some use coriander paste to marinate the eggplant while some others use tangy tomato sauce to. I have included some amount of rice flour to add crispness to the dish.

I used the oriental/asian eggplant. You may use the normal big eggplant also. Just that the normal eggplant is much bigger so the ingredients will almost double. I grilled this as it takes less oil but you may shallow fry it too.


Ingredients:-

One Oriental/Asian Eggplant
1/2 medium sized onion sliced (for garnishing)
1 t spn of dry and crushed mint leaves. (for garnishing)

Marinating batter:-
1 tbl spn coriander powder
1 t sp chilli powder
1 t spn ginger paste
pinch of turmeric powder
1 tbl spn of rice flour/corn starch (Optional, but recommended for crispness)
salt to taste

Mix the batter with water to make a paste (as thick as dosa/crepe batter). Keep aside

Yogurt:-
1 pod of garlic grated and pinch of salt are added in the whisked 1/2-1 cup of curds/yogurt and refrigerate.

If shallow frying:
5 tbl spns of oil

If grilling:-
1 tbl spn of oil bushed on the grills.

Method:-
Cut the eggplant in medium thickness round pieces.
Marinate the eggplants smeared with batter for around 15-20 minutes. Mean while fry the sliced onion to light brown. Don't burn them. Do it in low flame.
Shallow fry/grill the eggplants till they are cooked and crisp. Check by inserting a toothpick to see if cooked. For grilling it might take around 5-6 minutes depending on the thickness.
Once ready, pour the yogurt on top and decorate with brown onions and crushed dry mint leaves.
Serve hot n cold :).