For those of you who are not multi-lingual like me (able to order drinks and find a bathroom in over 5 languages), "Enero" means January in Español.  And as I posted earlier, the theme/ingredient for the month is eggplant.

I love eggplant and it goes well with my mostly vegetarian lifestyle but I have to admit, the main dish I usually make with eggplant is a variation on the eggplant parmesan.  In an effort to make something new and to challenge myself a little, I made baingan bartha which is an Indian spicy eggplant dish.  This is one of my favorite Indian dishes and one I've never dared to make at home since I figured it was time consuming and complex but the recipe I got via a cookbook from a friend was pretty straight ahead.

First, I roasted the eggplant.  I was going to do it over the open flame of my gas stove but couldn't find my tongs so I tossed them in the oven for about 20 minutes until the skin started to crinkle.

Once those were done, I scraped the innards out into a bowl and let it cool.  It seemed like such a small amount so I ended up roasting a second eggplant as well while I worked on the rest of the ingredients.  That included chopped red onion, a half a hot pepper (I used a whole serrano), two medium tomatoes, ginger, garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne, garam masala and a little lemon juice and cilantro.  Below, is a shot of the aforementioned ingredients.  You had to cook it until it got sticky, which it did and I'm glad I used my non-stick skillet instead of my cast iron (which was dirty anyway).

Finally, I mixed the onion schtuff with the eggplant and voila, I had some baingan bartha.  (The shot below does not include the added cilantro - sorry!  Also, the liquid in the pan is not oil, it's some lemon juice and the juice of the eggplant.)

I think this turned out really well.  Have I had better?  Yes, but at a restaurant in SF's Tenderloin hood (aka the Tandoorloin).  I think I would prefer lime juice instead of lemon next time and for sure, I'll have to tweak the spices - maybe more ginger.  I'll also be sure to roast the eggplant over an open flame to get more of a smoky flavor out of it.  But all in all, a delicious dish which I'm looking forward to eating again today after the flavors have marinated even longer overnight.

Hit me up if you want the recipe.