Hyderabadi Baghare Baingan

One thing that I am doing regularly these days is dig into my diaries, in which I have been noting down countless recipes over the years, and I am using them in a real sense today. One such recipe which made me stop and experiment with is Hyderabadi Baghare Baingan.


I have always had Telgu neighbours since my childhood. Infact one of my such neighbours was Kumari aunty. She was an affectionate lady and both her children used to love me a lot. I used to be invariably at her place, so my lunch & dinner a lot of times used to be with them. Once it so happened, aunty was sending her kids off to school and I was feeling very hungry. She was not able to pay attention towards me, so the frustrated me went into her kitchen and opened one of her chutney jars and put my hand into it and started eating (I was just 3 yrs old). This was the famous ginger chutney into which I had laid my hand. I was crying and eating as I found it too spicy(poor mischievous me), fortunately aunty realised that I was in the kitchen and when she saw me, she rushed to call my mom. The gist of this entire story is that I realised at the age of 3 that hyderabadi food is SPICY.



So here is how I made the Baghare Baingan.








What I Used


2 tbsp ghee
oil for frying
500 gms small Brinjals/Baingan/Eggplant
2 onions finely chopped
1 tomato finely chopped
1 small piece ginger
3-4 garlic pods
1 tbsp cashewnuts
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp roasted peanuts
1 1/2 tbsp roasted sesame
1 tbsp roasted dry coconut
2 tbsp fresh coconut
2-3 tsp poppy seeds
1 1/2 tsp chili pwd
1/2 tsp turmeric pwd

1 tsp tamarind paste
salt to taste

For tempering

3-4 cloves
2 green cardamoms
1/2 inch piece of cinnamon
few curry leaves
1 tbsp ghee

How I made it

Make criss-cross slits in the baingan keeping the stem intact.Deep fry the baingan.Grind together poppy, sesame, coriander seeds, both the coconut, peanuts and cashewnuts to a paste using minimum water.Heat ghee and add the chopped onions and saute them till light brown in colour.Add the tomatoes, salt, red chili and turmeric powder. Crush the ginger-garlic and add to the onion-tomatoes.Saute till the raw smell of garlic disappears.Now add the paste then the brinjals. Mix properly, add tamarind paste and a little water to get a good consistency. Bring it to a boil, cover and cook on low flame for 5-6 mins.Heat a small pan and add a tbsp of ghee. Add all the tempering ingredients and pour it over the Baghare Baingan. Mix properly. Cook more for 2-3 mins. Serve it with hot rice or roti/paratha.

This particular dish when I cooked , I did not make it too spicy as we eat medium spicy food. When S had it, his comment was 'Excellent taste but I think your story in the post is spicier than the preparation'. So those who love to eat very spicy food, add 10 more red chilies to your preparation.