Name: Braised Potatoes and Eggplant with Toasted Cumin (Aloo Baingan)
Yield: Serves 8
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 2 teaspoons coarse kosher or sea salt; 10 small purple Indian (or 1 large Italian) eggplants (about 1¼ pounds total), stems removed, cut into pieces 2 inches long and 1 inch wide; 2 to 4 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chiles, to taste, stems removed, cut crosswise into ¼-inch-thick slices (do not remove the seeds); 1½ pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled, cut into ½-inch cubes, and submerged in a bowl of cold water to prevent browning; ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric; 1 tablespoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground (see Tip); 1 teaspoon cumin seeds; 2 tablespoons canola oil; 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems for garnishing; 1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes

Preparation info

Serves
8

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

660 Curries

By Raghavan Iyer

Published 2008

About

Slowly braising the vegetables in this curry yields a sweetness that is further enhanced by a rather large amount of ground toasted cumin seeds. If you want to balance this sweetness with increased pungency, use more than the four chiles called for. This side dish is great with spicy Yogurt-Marinated Lamb and Perfumed Basmati Rice with Black Cardamom Pods (Kala elaichi pulao).