This is one of the famous salan recipe from hyderabad.Salan is the gravy that goes along with briyani or puloa. This is Called salna in tamilnadu which is served along with parotta.

It's called bagara baingan because bagar means smoke , they infuse smokey flavour to this recipe by putting a vessel of charcoal inside the gravy and smoke it by adding some ghee to charcoal or the oil floating on top of the gravy and cover it with lid.But I didn't do that step even without that also it tasted good, but if you want to try that too please go ahead. 

Usually this gravy is very thin in restaurants because they add lots of water but I didn't water it down that much because we can't finish that much gravy at my home so left it to be thicker and more richer.So why don't you try this recipe but don't forget to make a excellent briyani or puloa to go along with it.....enjoy 

Ingredients:

To roast eggplant:

Indian eggplant - 6 small(as we are going to add eggplant whole small ones are good and let them be fresh the stem part should be green )
Coconut oil - 1 tsp

For Masala:

Peanuts raw - 3 tbsp
Sesame seeds - 3 tbsp
Coconut flakes - 2 tbsp
For gravy:
Coconut oil - 1 tsp
Onions finely sliced - 1 cup
Ginger Garlic Paste - 1 tsp each
Chilly pd - 1/2 tsp
Coriander pd - 1 tsp
Cumin pd - 1 tsp
Tamarind paste - 2 tsp or juice of 1 lemon size ball of tamarind.
Jaggrey or brown sugar - 2 tsp
Salt - as needed
Coriander leaves - 1/8 cup chopped finely for garnishing.

Whole spices:

Cinnamon - 1 Stick
Cardamon - 3 pods
Cloves - 4
Star Anise - 1
Bay leaf - 2
Mustard seeds - 1 tsp (optional)
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Fenugreek seeds - 5 no

Method:

Preparing eggplant:

1.Cut eggplant into 4 quarters keeping the top head intact.

2.In regular bhagara Baingan in restaurants they fry eggplant in oil and use the eggplant in gravy.
To be health conscious I just sautéed eggplant in 1 tsp of coconut oil till the whole outer surface is sautéed and crisp uniformly, then to cook the flesh I microwaved it for 4 min.

This gives exact taste like the fried ones.
Keep this aside while we carry out other steps.

Making Masala:

Dry roast peanuts in a pan till it starts to change color , then add sesame seeds and Toast it , keep a lid on other hand as this will splatter so cover it briefly when sesame seeds splutter. Then add coconut flakes and Toast it and switch off the flame and transfer the contents to another plate and let it cool before grinding. 



Once cool grind the mixture to a fine powder.This will become wet automatically while grinding from the oils released from nuts and coconut. You can also add water if you need.

I added some water to the ground mixture to form a smooth paste which will make job easier while adding this to gravy and won't form lumps.

Keep this masala aside.

Making gravy:

1.In a wide pan add coconut oil , then add whole spices (be careful not to burn the spices), roast It for a min, then add onions , turmeric, little salt and saute it till onions are getting little color.Then add ginger garlic paste and saute it, add little water if it's getting dry.

2.Then add Chilly pd, coriander pd, cumin pd and saute it , add water and cook this for 5 min , covered. 
3.Then add ground masala and after this point keep on stirring as this may burn at bottom, keep flames in medium low and cover and cook for 20 min stirring every 5 min.Add extra water if it's getting too thick.
4.Now add tamarind paste or tamarind water and mix well.
5.Add jaggrey and cook for a min, then do a taste check and add salt as needed.
6.Now add the eggplant and cover and cook for 5 min till all the flavours enter into eggplant.
7.Finally garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot with biryani, pulao or naan.


Tips:You can make this to a very thin gravy by adding extra water which is how they serve in restaurants.Its your preference.