Baingan (eggplant) Masala

Summer this year has, like every summer before it, gone by too fast and fall is knocking at the door. As much as I love fall and the festive season it brings, I cant help but be sad when summer comes to an end. To add to my end-of-summer blues, this season I couldn't even do as much farmer's-market-shopping as I would've liked to. Makes me envious of the blessed few in CA who enjoy farmer's markets all through the year. Sighs apart, I feel thankful for friends that do manage to go vegetable-picking and share their little bounties from such trips. One such friend went vegetable-picking on one of those rare sunny weekends (this summer was such a washout for us in the East Coast) and she shared the veggies that she'd picked - delightful eggplant, robust-looking potatoes and ...
Here is the recipe for Eggplant masala I made with those yummy freshly picked eggplants. I love eggplant but bitter ones are a major turnoff for me (so are the ones filled with seeds). As all eggplant aficianados know, one bitter eggplant is sufficient to spoil the entire dish - so, I am extra careful in choosing them. For the small Indian variety, I prefer the lovely tender ones without spots - but these tend to be seasonal (even in our trusty local Indian grocery shops). However, I have almost always had good luck with the more readily available Italian or Japanese variety as well. The following recipe works well for the Indian, Japanese and Italian varieties quite well.

Note: Cut eggplant into 1" cubes and drop them into salted warm water. This helps reduce the bitterness if any in the eggplant.

Ingredients:
6 medium sized eggplant (baingan)
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tsp jeera (cumin)
1 tsp mustard
2 tsp minced ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
2 tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp amchoor powder (dry mango powder)
2 tsp dhaniya-jeera (cumin-coriander) powder
Cilantro, finely chopped for garnish (optional)
1 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pan, when it gets hot add jeera, mustard, minced ginger and garlic.
2. Once garlic gets golden brown, add onions. Saute it for a few minutes until onions brown.
3. Now add tomatoes, turmeric and salt. Cook until the raw smell of tomatoes disappears.
4. Now add the cut pieces of eggplant and cook for about 5 min until the pieces are tender and well-cooked.
5. Now add amchoor powder, red chilli powder, garam masala and dhaniya-jeera powder.
6. Saute for a few more minutes until the spices get incorporated well.
7. Garnish with cilantro.
8. Serve hot with rotis/rice.

This will be my entry to "IAVW: Indian" hosted by Erbe in cucina. This event is a part of the series "It's a Vegan World: A food event" started by Vaishali of Holy Cow - Recipes from a vegan Kitchen.
Enjoy !