Some say this is the Bengali version of baba ganoush. The dish is smoky and little spicy, and also pungent and crunchy with the onions. Many regions in India have their own version, and they can involve quite a few ingredients, but this one is simple and allows the eggplant to be the star of the show. Surprisingly, I never liked this dish when I was growing up, but now it’s a dish we make quite regularly as a family, especially in the summer when we can put the eggplant on the barbecue to chargrill.
Ingredients
- 2 eggplant (aubergines)
- 1 tablespoon mustard oil
- ½ white onion, finely chopped
- 5-mm piece of fresh ginger, very thinly sliced into strips
- 1 handful of chopped coriander (cilantro)
- 1 green bird’s eye chilli, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
To serve
- Rooti
- sliced onions
Method
Wash the eggplant and dry them with kitchen paper. Score 5 slits, about 5mm deep, into each eggplant lengthways. Brush each with a little of the oil.
If you have a gas hob, very carefully place each eggplant directly on the flame of a burner and cook, turning regularly with tongs, until the skin becomes charred all over. If you don’t have a gas hob, this can be done over a barbecue. Remove from the heat and place in a bowl. Cover the bowl with a lid and leave to cool.
When the eggplant are cool enough to be handled, carefully pull away the skins and discard. Take care not to take too much of the flesh off with the skin. Place the eggplant flesh on a chopping board and roughly chop into very small pieces – you want it to be rather mushy. Transfer to a bowl, then add the remaining ingredients and mix well, adding salt to taste.
Serve at room temperature with rooti and sliced onions.
Recipe extracted from Kolkata by Rinku Dutt
Smith Street Books, Distributed by Thames & Hudson
RRP $60.50 available now.
