Baingan Masala
Aubergine pieces cooked with onion, tomato, ginger and ground spices until soft, with a thick sauce that clings.
Photograph credit: Delicious Indian Stuffed Eggplant Curry Dish by Milton Das · Pexels License · Pexels
Autumn is when aubergines are firm, glossy and cheap, and a pan of this is one of the best uses of them. Baingan masala is a plain, everyday curry: aubergine cooked in a spiced onion and tomato sauce until the pieces are soft and the sauce thick.
The usual fault is greasy, collapsed aubergine. Salting helps. Cut the aubergine into 3 cm pieces, toss with salt and leave for 15 minutes, then pat dry. The salt draws out water and bitterness, and the pieces take up less oil. Cook them in a hot pan with enough oil, and leave them alone for the first 3 minutes. That gives colour and stops them breaking up.
Build the masala separately: onion cooked golden, then ginger and garlic, then tomatoes and spices, simmered until the oil shows at the edges. Return the aubergine, add a splash of water, cover, and cook gently for 10 minutes.
Finish with garam masala and fresh coriander. The sauce should cling to each piece without pooling.
Quick Answers
How long does Baingan Masala take to make?
15 minutes of preparation and 30 minutes of cooking, plus 15 minutes of salting, so allow 1 hour from start to finish. The recipe serves 4.
How to Make Baingan Masala
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Toss the aubergine with the 1 tsp salt and leave for 15 minutes. Pat dry.
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Heat 3 tbsp of the oil in a wide pan over a high heat. Add the aubergine and cook for 8 minutes, turning, until browned. Remove.
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Add the remaining oil and the cumin seeds, then the onion, and cook for 6 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic paste for 1 minute.
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Add the tomatoes, coriander, turmeric, chilli powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook for 8 minutes until thick.
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Return the aubergine with the water, cover and cook gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the garam masala and coriander.
Related guide: Prep, cook and total time.
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Tips That Matter
- Do not skip salting if your aubergines are large.
- Keep the pieces even so they cook together.
- Add a splash of water if the sauce looks dry.
Changing the Recipe
- If you only have ground ginger, a quarter-teaspoon for each tablespoon of fresh is the ratio usually given; it tastes warmer and less bright than the fresh root.
- An eighth of a teaspoon of garlic powder per clove is the stand-in usually given when you are out of fresh garlic; it will not brown the same way, and it burns easily, so add it with the liquid.
What to Serve With It
Chapati · Steamed rice · Dal · Plain yoghurt
Sides from the same cuisine on this site: Gluten-Free Naan, Idiyappam, Kerala Appam.
Keeping and Reheating
Keeps in the fridge for 3 days. Reheat gently.
Nutrition per Serving
Per serving, calculated from the ingredient list with USDA FoodData Central figures (SR Legacy). A calculation, not a laboratory analysis: brands, cuts and how you measure change the real numbers. How the figures are worked out.
Your notes on this recipe
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Compiled by Turab
Checked by script for timings, diet labels and nutrition arithmetic. How the recipes are checked. Found a mistake? Tell us.
First published ; last changed .
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