Recipe - Beingan Bharta--Indian Eggplant

1 lg Eggplant
1 Green chili thinly cut or sliced up
1 pn Asafoetida; (optional)
1 teaspoon Mustard seed
2 teaspoon Salt
1 md Onion; chopped
Fresh cilantro; chopped "a
Healthy amount"
Vegetable oil for frying

The eggplant should be grilled first to give the dish a nice smokey flavor.
You can do this either by putting the whole eggplant on an outdoor grill
and turning a couple of times, or you can grill it on a gas range. First
remove the stems and leaves so

they won't burn. Put down some tin foil in the well of the burner to catch
the juice which will come out. Place the metal burner on top and grill the
eggplant directly on it. The outside of the eggplant will burn as the
inside cooks, turn it frequently

. Once cooked, let it cool until you can comfortably handle it. Peel the
skin offthis should be easy because it is burnt, but if a little bit of
skin sticks, that's fine.

Heat about a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan or wok. Don't let it get too
hot, thoughbecause you want the heat on low as you add the mustard seeds.
Let the seeds pop gently in the oil, then add the onion. Fry until
translucent. Add the eggplant, as

afetida, green chili, and salt.

Fry for 510 minutes. Add the chopped cilantro about a minute before
serving. Enjoy with flat bread (naan or chapatis) or plain old pita. Yum!

Leslie Providence, RI (thanks to Jeremy jblum@laser.net)
Posted to recipeludigest Volume 01 Number 410 by "Diane Geary."
diane@keyway.net on Dec 28, 1997