Bharwan Baingan recipe (stuffed baby brinjal)

Bharwan baingan – brinjals stuffed with a masala paste and cooked to perfection. This is tasty, easy and quick, wonderful right ? 🙂

This is an exotic lovely curry that can be eaten with rice or roti. Phulkas go well too.

Now, for the stuffing, there are many different types that you can prepare. Some do it with onion masala, powder masala like coriander and besan, and I got my own favorite too. I make it with coriander-chili masala. For me, bharwan baingan has to be with coriander paste. It is very easy, just 3 ingredients blended and stuffed. Because I use coriander, it cooks very quickly as well. In Andhra, it is popularly called gutti vankaya kothimeera karam.

This recipe is actually not spicy. The spiciness comes from the chili itself, so adjust it as per your liking. If you prefer making this dish with onion masala, then my recipe – stuffed brinjals with onion masala.

This recipe used to be a sunday special at home. My mom makes sambar along with this and some lovely papads or appadams. If it’s summer, then a bonanza offer would be sweet mangoes. Well, sunday has to be special and heavy on tummy, right !! 😀

I think the word stuffed makes any recipe interesting. I like all the recipes that say ‘stuffed’. They appear exotic and indulgent.

I have many such stuffed recipes, if you are interested – stuffed buns, stuffed bajji, stuffed chili, stuffed tomatoes, onion stuffed brinjal, stuffed roti, kachori.

Ingredients:
Baby brinjal or baingan or eggplants – 8-10
Coriander leaves – 1 cup (roughly chopped)
Green chilli – 2-3 (depending on the heat you prefer, I like it spicy)
Salt – to taste
Oil – 1 tbsp

Procedure:

1. For the paste, blend the coriander leaves, green chilli and salt together into a coarse paste. (You may also blend it smooth, but I prefer coarse texture).
2. Take each brinjal and cut 2 intersections about 3/4^th of its length. Check the image attached.
3. Once cut, place the brinjal in the water so that it does not turn dark in color.
4. Now, we need to stuff the coriander paste inside the brinjal.
5. Carefully stuff about a tbsp of coriander paste into each brinjal without breaking them.
6. Heat oil in a pan and add the brinjals. Cook on a medium-low heat till the brinjals get a slight brown color.
7. Sprinkle some salt, add any leftover coriander paste to the pan. Also add about 1/2 cup water and simmer covered till the vegetable is well cooked.
8. Bharwan baingan is ready to be served !!

Serve this with plain rice or coconut rice, jeera rice, tomato rice, pulao, Indian-style fried rice and even rotis and phulka.

Notes:

1. Keep adding little water to the pan if the eggplants become too dry and if they are getting burnt.
2. I keep this recipe simple by not adding a lot of ingredients. You can add some tadka (seasoning) if you prefer a slight crunch.
3. You can use both dark and light colored baingan (brinjals) for this recipe.

If you are a brinjal favorite like me, I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy this easy and quick recipe. Also, check my other brinjal recipes – aloo baingan and baingan chutney.

Related Images: