Alu baingan

"Alu Baingan" is another delicious way of cooking eggplant/baingan, and has been my all time favorite since my childhood days. Adding some lemon juice before eating it enhances the taste of the dish, a lot of people enjoy having it with boiled rice but for me its always the call for roti with alu baingan....

Ingredients: 

500g baingan/ egg plant (cut in cubes, if you don't like the skin you can peel it off) 

2 medium potatoes (peeled and cut in to cubes) 

2 medium onions chopped 

3-4 medium tomatoes chopped 

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste 

1/2 tsp cumin seeds 

1 1/4 tsp red chili powder (to taste) 

1/2 tsp turmeric powder 

½ tsp coriander powder 

1/2 tsp garam masala powder 

2-3 green chilies 

¼ cup oil 

Salt to taste (I mostly put 1 ¼ tsp of salt)

1 tsp lemon juice

Method: 

Heat oil in a pan and add the onions. Fry for a while till the onion turns transparent and then add the ginger garlic paste and cumin seeds, fry for a second and add in the tomatoes, chili powder, salt, and turmeric powder. Mix well and cover for 5-10 minutes on medium flame. Take the lid of and fry the masala until all the tomatoes are dissolved (adding a few splashes of water every now and then). Now add in the potatoes and fry them for 3-4 minutes and add in the eggplants cubes and green chilis, mix well, cover the pan with a lid and let it cook on low flame for 15-20 minutes or until the eggplants and potatoes are done. Remember to stir it once in 10 minutes so the flavors are mixed up nicely (if you like the baingans to be a bit mushy then stir it very well). Once the potatoes and baingans are done sprinkle some garam masala, coriander powder, lemon juice and chopped fresh coriander. Cover it for 2-3 minutes and turn off the flame. Its done serve hot garnished with chopped coriander leaves. Serve with roti or boiled rice.