Authentic Punjabi Aloo Baingan Sabji Recipe

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Cooking With Anadi

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Aloo Baingan Sabji Recipe

This recipe Aloo Baingan Sabji recipe has an interesting history behind it… Let me explain.

Would you believe that I used to puke at the thought of Aloo Baingan? If you’ve never had this dish before, I hope I’m not turning you off! Please don’t click away, I’ll get to the good part! But yes, this was a regular dish in my household. My mom would make it as frequently as once a week, and sometimes twice. I did not want to eat it at all! I had to force it down my throat or else my parents would get mad at me for not eating it out or throwing up. I was dreading Aloo Baingan nights, and this went on for quite some time! My mom would make aloo baingan without tomatoes, and the gravy would be just so dry. Dry sabji with dry roti, and sometimes we wouldn’t have dal with it… Oh my, those dinners were a nightmare that I tried to expel from my memory!

Then one day one of my aunts showed my mom (and myself, the keen observer!) the light to a wonderful Aloo Baingan. My aunt prepared aloo baingan Punjabi style, with the help of tomatoes and aromatic spices to make a flavorful gravy and give the potatoes and eggplant incredible flavors. After that, gone were the days of wanting to throw up my dinner, and my mom made very scrumptious aloo baingans! They were so good that I went from hating the dish to requesting it be made for dinner!

So no, with this recipe you won’t want to throw it up, or at least I hope not! Are you trying to get kids to eat veggies? Are you looking for the perfect nutritious vegetarian curry to serve your family that’ll fill their tummies with joy? Aloo baingan is the dish you’ll want to cook for dinner tonight! It’s a wonderful marriage of potatoes and eggplant, fused together with a hearty tomato-based gravy. You’ll get delicious smokiness from your roasted eggplant, and the soft potatoes give so much body to the dish. Trust me, once you try this aloo baingan sabji recipe, you’ll be hooked! Ready to get cooking? Let’s go!

Tools Needed

• Cutting board
• Wire rack
• Baking sheet
• Nonstick pan
• Wooden spoon
• Knife
• Spoon
• Measuring spoons

Ingredients for Punjabi Aloo Baingan Sabji

Here are the ingredient you’ll need for a delicious Punjabi aloo baingan sabji. We won’t use too many spices so that the amazing smokiness from the eggplant seeps through into the gravy and into the potatoes. Here is what we’ll need for the recipe:

• Cumin seeds
• Hing
• Eggplant
• Potatoes
• Ghee
• Ginger
• Garlic
• Green chiles (optional, you can omit if you don’t want spice. I actually didn’t use any here, but that’s partially because I ran out of them!)
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Ground coriander
• Turmeric
• Deggi mirch
• Garam masala
• Cilantro

How to Make Punjabi Baingan Sabji

Notes About the Stovetop

The ideal stovetop to get that beautiful char is the naked flame from a gas stovetop. However, in case you don’t have a gas line in your neighborhood or have another type of stovetop, you can still roast the eggplant without many issues!

I have an electric, smooth cooktop. On such a stovetop, the heat does not rely on a pot/pan being detected for the heat to turn on. Therefore, I can use a wire rack, over the cooktop and char the eggplant.

While you may do the same on an electric coil cooktop, these types of stoves are notorious for being a pain in the neck to clean. And you may get some juices dripping from the eggplant and I would like you to avoid any extra cleanup.

For any other cooktops, follow the instructions below to see how to roast the eggplant in your oven.

Roasting the Eggplant

On an electric smooth cooktop, place a wire rack over the largest burner and turn heat to high. Add eggplant over the wire rack and turn every few minutes until the eggplant is soft and lightly charred all around

On gas cooktop, add the eggplant directly over the flame and turn every few minutes until the eggplant is soft and lightly charred all around.

For any other cooktop, use the broiler in your oven to roast the eggplant. Move the oven rack to the second highest position and place a wire rack over a baking sheet lined with foil. Cook the eggplant as directed above.

Let eggplant rest on a plate/cutting board once done cooking.

Making the Aloo Baingan

1. Heat pan on medium heat and add olive oil/ghee, cumin seeds and hing and crackle until cumin turns reddish brown and fragrant.
2. Rinse the cubed potatoes, drain and add to pan, mix well and cover and cook for 5-8 minutes.
3. Then, remove cover and stir well, cover again and cook for 5-7 or until the potatoes are half cooked or translucent.
4. Add the onions and cook until the onions soften. Then add chopped ginger and garlic and sauté until the rawness has cooked off.
5. Add the tomatoes and green chilies if using. Mix well and add ground coriander, turmeric, deggi mirch and a pinch of salt.
6. While the tomatoes cook down and potatoes finish cooking, slice the eggplant in half and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh of the eggplant.
7. Once tomatoes and potatoes are soft, add in the eggplant and mix well. Cook for 5-10 minutes or until eggplant comes well together with the tomato masala.
8. Finish with garam masala, lime juice and cilantro, adjust for seasoning and serve right away!

Tips & Tricks for the Best Aloo Baingan Sabji

• Potatoes take a long time to cook, so take your time to ensure the potatoes have completely softened before adding the eggplant
• Use additional splashes of water whenever required if the dish is sticking at the bottom of the pan - stir often!
• The star of this dish should be the eggplant, so be conservative with the amount of spice used in this dish to really appreciate the flavor of the roasted eggplant.
• Make sure to season the dish with salt at every stage to really unlock the flavors of each ingredient.
• The roasted skin of the eggplant is packed full of flavor. For additional smokiness in the bharta, feel free to chop bits of the skin and add with the eggplant. It is delicious!

Serving Suggestions for Punjabi Aloo Baingan

I love having this potato and eggplant mash with breads! Here are my suggestions:

• Roti
• Classic Layered Paratha
• Laccha paratha
• Rumali roti
• Tandoori Naan

I’ve always had my aloo baingan with roti or paratha, but if you’re feeling lavish, then by all means try tandoori naan or laccha paratha! I just view aloo baingan as a homestyle meal, so I’ve never tried pairing the dish with those breads. In the video below:

You could also serve with some simply steamed Basmati Rice or some Jeera Rice. For a fully hearty meal, you could also cook up some Masaledar Chana Dal, a yellow split-pea dal!

Enjoyed Aloo Baingan Sabji? Check Out These Other Potato-Based Dishes!

• North Indian Dum Aloo
• Aloo Patties - Indian Potato Turnovers
• Punjabi Aloo Paratha
• Crispy Aloo Bhindi - Stir Fried Okra & Potatoes
• Homestyle Bombay Pav Bhaji

What Is Not in This Aloo Baingan Recipe

The spice list here is genuinely short, and a lot of what people expect in a Punjabi vegetable dish simply is not in it. There is no ajwain, no black pepper, no cream and no tomato puree. The whole spice bill is half a teaspoon of cumin seeds, a pinch of hing, half a teaspoon of ground coriander, a quarter teaspoon of turmeric, half a teaspoon of deggi mirch, a quarter teaspoon of garam masala and salt to taste. The only red chilli powder in the pan is the deggi mirch, and it is there for colour more than heat, which is why it is deggi mirch and not a hotter red chili powder. The actual heat comes from 2 finely chopped green chiles, and you can leave them out without touching anything else.

There is also no splash of water anywhere in this recipe, and no stock. The 2 diced tomatoes supply every bit of the moisture, which is exactly why the gravy tastes of tomato rather than of thinned-out spice powders. Nothing catches on the bottom of the pot either, because the lid goes on twice while the potatoes cook and traps the steam they release. And this is not a pressure cooker or instant pot recipe. It is one pan on the stovetop, plus a flame, a wire rack or a broiler for the eggplant. It is also not aloo gobi, which people often assume when they hear aloo and a vegetable in the same breath. There is no cauliflower in this sabzi at all.

The Eggplant Is Supposed to Be Mushy

Most eggplant advice online is about how to stop eggplant going mushy. This recipe wants the opposite. The eggplant is roasted whole until it is soft and lightly charred all the way around, then rested, halved and scooped out of its skin with a spoon. It goes into the pan already collapsed, so mushy eggplants are the goal, not a failure. That is the difference between this and a dry sabzi where the eggplant is cubed and fried and expected to hold its shape.

One large eggplant is what the recipe calls for, and a globe eggplant is the easiest one to find at that size. If eggplant is not your thing, the recipe card gives two swaps: 2 medium zucchini, which is milder, or 2 to 3 portobello mushrooms, which keep a similar meaty texture. Neither will char and collapse the way the eggplant does, so you lose the smoky note, but the potatoes and the tomato masala carry the dish either way.

Cook Time, Heat and What Happens When

Prep is 10 minutes, the cook time is 30, so 40 minutes start to finish, and the recipe card makes 2 servings. Everything happens on medium heat. There is no low heat stage and nothing simmers for an hour. One tablespoon of ghee is the entire fat in the pan, and clarified butter swaps in one to one, or coconut oil if you want it dairy-free.

In order: the cumin seeds and hing go into the hot ghee and crackle until the cumin turns reddish brown and fragrant. The rinsed cubed potatoes go in, covered, for 5 to 8 minutes, then get a stir and go back under the lid for another 5 to 7 minutes until they are half cooked and translucent. Onions follow and cook until they soften, then the minced ginger and garlic go in and cook until the raw smell has gone. Tomatoes and green chiles next, with the ground coriander, turmeric, deggi mirch and a pinch of salt. While that cooks down you scoop the eggplant, then fold it in and give it 5 to 10 minutes to come together with the tomato masala. Garam masala, lime juice and cilantro at the very end, off the heat, and it goes to the table right away.

Aloo Baingan Nutrition, Per Serving

Split across 2 servings, one portion is 193 calories, with 29 g of carbs, 6 g of fiber, 4 g of protein, 8 g of fat, 9 g of sugar and 315 mg of sodium. Almost all of that fat is the single tablespoon of ghee, and the sugar is coming from the tomatoes and onion rather than anything added, because nothing sweet goes into this pan. For a vegetable dish built on one potato and one eggplant, 6 g of fiber a serving is the number worth noticing.