Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe for the Indian dish Bharta (a smoked eggplant dish similar to baba ghanouj, included in her must-have cookbook World Vegetarian) is no-fail fun for the tummy of anyone you introduce it to. Some history, courtesy of Jaffrey:

“This is a popular village dish. The eggplant is put whole into the hot ashes of outdoor stoves and allowed to char and blacken on the outside. The inside, now nicely soft and smoky, is removed, mashed and cooked along with onions, ginger and tomatoes. A village meal might well consist of this bharta, some mustard greens, flat whole wheat breads, and a tall glass of butermilk or lassi.”

Personally, I serve it as a dip, like the one I made last night for a neighbor. Ingredients and directions below. But seriously. Buy the book!

Ingredients
4-5 tablespoons of olive oil
1 cup finely chopped onions
1 (2×1-inch) piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated to a pulp*
1 cup peeled and chopped very ripe tomatoes**
1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
1/8 to 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large eggplant (1.5 lbs) roasted***, peeled and coarsely chopped
2-3 tablespoons of coarsley chopped fresh cilantro

Directions
*Freeze the ginger root. It makes a HUGE difference when grating.
**I’ve personally never peeled the tomatoes.
***Preheat oven to 475, line a pan with foil, poke eggplant all over with a fork, and bake the eggplant 15 minutes on every side. Then, let cool. Chop both ends off. Eggplant should be easy to peel and chop/mash at this point.

1. After you heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat, add the onions and stir until brown around the edges.
2. Add the ginger (I typically just grate directly over the skillet) and stir for another minute.
3. Add the tomatoes, stirring until slightly reduced, 3-5 minutes.
4. Add the cumin, cayenne and salt. Stir to mix.
5. Stir in eggplant, lower heat to medium and cook for 10-15 minutes more.
6. Add the cilantro and mix well.

Serve hot if a main course, room temperature as a dip and chilled as a spread! We used pita chips last night. Mmmm.

Tags: eggplant, FIXER-SUPPER, NOM NOM NOM, PLEASE STOP AIRBRUSHING RACHEL RAY, vegetarian