Indian Aloo Baingan - Potatoes and Eggplant

Indian food can be made at home with this simple Aloo Baingan (potatoes and eggplant) recipe. I assure you it is really easy to make and on my WW personal plan it is zero points.

I love Indian food, especially Aloo Baingan with chickpeas, but it is one cuisine that I am not usually familiar cooking. During the Pandemic (especially when we were not eating in restaurants), I started to experiment with a few Indian food recipes. 

I was really pleased with the way this recipe came out. It was every bit as tasty as anything I've tasted in the Indian restaurants, but less calories and fat for sure.  I researched about 6 recipes and then created my own version that was to my liking and vegan, gluten-free, and oil-free.

Some of the recipes I looked at called for roasted vegetables, others had no sauce, some called for chickpeas, some fresh tomato topping some not, others were a lot spicier. 

Mine did turn out a tad spicier than I would have liked but I think I put a heaping tablespoon of grated ginger and that may have added extra heat. Next time I'll measure more carefully and just use a level tablespoon of the freshly grated ginger to make the paste with the turmeric and other spices. 

The basic recipe tasted great before I even added the chickpeas and tomato as the topping. I could have eaten it without the extras. However, I decided to make a meal out of it and add chickpeas for protein and fresh diced tomatoes to the top for added flavor. The tomatoes actually ended up being lightly wilted after being added to the hot dish. I liked it. 

I found the spices are different from my usual way of cooking, but I found it was easy to manage. I don't particularly like things real hot and spicy, so I omit jalapeño peppers (but you don't have to). Instead I used a mild salsa instead of tomato sauce in this recipe.

 I also eliminated "hing" which is a popular specialty spice used in Indian cooking that is thought to boost the flavor of the other spices (which I did not miss- but you might) so I included it as optional. 

"Hing" or "Heeng" is called asafetida in English and is a perennial herb that is grown in India. Hing is sold in Indian food stores.

Not only is this recipe flavorful and easy to make, it allowed me to use two vegetables (potato and eggplant) that I picked up at the local organic farm this week. I definitely like it with the added chickpeas and freshly chopped tomato. 

I've seen this recipe made two ways: as a stew and also as a chunky sauce. I made mine more of a chunky sauce. This Aloo Baingan is my American version of the recipe of course. 

It can eaten over cauliflower-rice to keep the meal lower carb, eaten over regular brown, white, or basmati rice, or eaten with flatbreads (GF of course).

I think this recipe can be easily adapted for the Instant Pot as well. 

The directions may look a little daunting, but it is basically two easy steps. 

Two easy steps

1. Assemble and mix all the spices and herbs in a bowl and add 1/2 cup water and stir. Set aside.

2. Toast the cumin seeds for 1 minute in a saucepan and then add the spice mixture, stir, and cook for 1/2 minutes stirring. Add the remainder of ingredients and cook down covered till potatoes are soft. 

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger

1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

1/8 teaspoon of cracked black pepper

1/2 cup water for the spice mixture

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 jar of mild salsa

1 jar of water added to the saucepan (use the salsa jar)

2 cups of chopped potatoes

3 cups of peeled and chopped eggplant

1 tomato, diced

1 cup of cooked chickpeas added to the serving dish

1 diced tomato added to the serving dish as a topping

optional: pinch of hing

optional: 1 small jalapeño, seeded and chopped

 

Directions:

In a small bowl, add ginger, turmeric powder, paprika, black pepper and a 1/2 cup of water. Stir well and set aside.

Heat a 3 quart saucepan to roast the cumin seeds. Wait until the pan is very hot and then add one or two cumin seeds. When the seed crackles/popts, add the other seeds but remove from the heat immediately and shake around for 30 seconds to prevent burning. 

As soon as the seeds turn darker, but not burnt (be careful) add the ginger mixture from the small bowl, the salsa, and water. Add the eggplant and potatoes (stir) and cook on low covered until potatoes are soft, stirring frequently to prevent burning. When potatoes are soft, about 20-25 minutes, turn off heat and pour into a medium size serving bowl. Top with chickpeas and chopped tomatoes. Serve over cauliflower rice, rice, or in a flatbread.

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