Dahi Baingan (Eggplant in Yogurt Sauce)
Last week I started craving Indian food quite a bit and decided to buy an Indian Vegetarian cookbook to discover this cuisine a bit more. The start of my Indian cooking was a bit turbulent as I was missing around half of the ingredients in each recipe I saw in the book (and some I had very serious doubts I would ever find in Zürich). After very little research, I discovered that many supermarkets in Switzerland sell ghee (something I had never used before) and felt a little more at ease.
I wanted to find an easy an quick recipe and found Dahi Baingan to be the perfect dish for people with little time and who have just started discovering Indian cuisine. Dahi Baigan is an eggplant based dish, the eggplants are fried in vegetable oil and then cooked in yogurt with spices. It’s not only extremely delicious but also much lighter than I thought it would be. I was a little scared when I realised I had to fry the eggplants but it you fry them with sunflower oil and let them drain in kitchen towels you will hardly know they were ever fried. I also tried the vegan version with coconut vegan yogurt and was surprised at how the flavours really mixed well together.
You can serve Dahi Baingan on it’s own or with some rice, naan bread or chapati bread and it is best served at room temperature.
Check out the Q&A on the bottom for more information about the dish and the preparation.
Enjoyed at room temperature
Prep Time: 10 Min
Cooking Time: 20 Min
Ingredients (4 servings):
Eggplants - 500g (1 eggplant per person) try finding long and skinny eggplants instead of short and fatter ones :)
Ghee - 2 teaspoons (you can substitute with butter if you can’t find ghee
Ground Turmeric - 1/2 teaspoon
Cumin Seeds - 1 Tbs
Natural Yogurt - 250ml
Sugar - 1/2 Tbs
Paprika Powder - 1 teaspoon
Salt
Vegetable Oil for frying
How to:
Cut the eggplants in half but leave them connected at the stem.
Put some salt and turmeric power on the cut side of the eggplants.
Take out your frying pan (or if you have a deep fryer even better). Get your vegetable oil out and heat it in the pan (or in the fryer).
Fry the eggplants for around 7 minutes (in the pan), 5 minutes if you have a fryer. The eggplants should turn nice and brownish but should not burn. Make sure you turn them once in a while and make sure they fry everywhere evenly.
Once ready remove the eggplants from the oil and put them on kitchen paper to dry a bit.
Now take another pan and heat the ghee (or butter) at medium heat. Add the eggplants and the cumin seeds and let everything cook for around 5 minutes.
Now comes the big moment, your sauce should be nice and creamy and not too liquid so make sure that all the excess oil and water have evaporated from the aubergine.
Add the yogurt, paprika, sugar and salt and cook for another 5 minutes.
Leave to rest a bit as this dish is usually served at room temperature and not too hot.
Q&A
1) What is ghee?
Ghee is clarified butter. You can find it at coop
2) What type of eggplants should I buy?
The best eggplants to buy are long and skinny eggplants as you are frying them and you want the entire eggplant be cooked in the same way. If your eggplant is too “fat” it might not cook properly in the middle or might be overcooked on the outside.
3) What vegetable oil should I use?
I used sunflower oil and it worked very well
4) How is Dahi Baingan served?
Traditionally Dahi Baingan is served at room temperature along with some rice, Naan or Chapati bread
5) How long can I keep it in the fridge?
No longer than 2 days.
6) Is it vegan?
The traditional Dahi Baingan is not vegan but rather vegetarian as yogurt is used. You can make a delicious vegan version with either coconut yogurt or other types of vegan yogurt.
7) I don’t like fried food, will I like this?
I am generally also not a fan of fried and greasy food but the Dahi Baingan really surprised me as it did not taste fried at all. Make sure you use the right oil and really drain the eggplants well on kitchen paper.