In case you were unaware, I'm on an epic quest to recreate my favorite Indian dish. Here are tries one and two.
Did I do it this time? No. The recipe was a few steps away from the prior versions- mainly no garam masala- but the writer kept taking up the smoky flavors. Kamal's baignan bharta is not smoky, but I gave it a go anyway, hoping to see what the minimal spice would be like. Maybe if I got a sense of the inherent flavors in the dish I could see what needed to be added to achieve my desired result.
Ingredients (adapted from the link above):
1 lb eggplant2.5 tablespoon oil, divided
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
2 jalapenos, diced
2.5 cups tomatoes, diced
salt to taste
3/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
Chopped cilantro
The recipe has fewer spices, but unfortunately the jalapenos I chose were INSANELY hot somehow. In the past I'd put a whole one in and gotten no heat, this time two makes this fairly painful to eat. Which makes me sad. I tried mixing in a bunch of yogurt- no dice. Still too spicy.
There will be a bit of a regroup before my next attempt. At the very least I'd like to stop at an Indian grocery store to pick up a different mix of garam masala, as well as a red chili powder. And maybe a different spicy green pepper.
A reach goal is to go back to Kamal and try theirs again/beg for a recipe. But it's a bit of a trip for a weeknight, and I'm not sure I have a free weekend until September.
No comments:
Post a Comment