Monday, March 31, 2008

Baingan bartha pasta, why not?


Two weeks back I glanced upon Rachel Ray gleefully mashing up roasted eggplants and cherry tomatoes for a pasta dish. A few days back at the grocery store my little girl squealed with delight when she saw the shiny purple eggplants and I remembered Ray’s pasta. Yesterday after going through her recipe I was thinking of ways to sneak in some heat into the dish to satisfy our spice-craving tongues and it came to me, why not marry Italian to Indian and see what happens. So that’s how it all happened. This plus this and little tweaks here and there and you get this smoky, tangy, silky eggplant with pasta, simple as that.


Fettucine : half of a 12 0z pack
One large eggplant
One onion, thinly sliced
Four tomatoes, cubed
Two or three green chillies, sliced ( I used 1 jalapeno pepper as I had no green chillies, works great)
Two cloves of garlic, crushed
one inch piece of ginger crushed
chilly powder: 2 tsp
corriander powder: 3tsp
turmeric powder: ½ tsp
olive oil : 2 T
zest and juice of half of a lime

You are going to need just half of the cooked bartha as a sauce for the pasta, so you can store the other half for a later meal. The pasta dish yields four full servings.

Roast the eggplant. You can bake it in an oven at 350 degrees F for about 45 minutes or until the eggplant collapse, grill or roast it on a grill or gas flame . I roasted the eggplant over the gas flame. Make several piercing all over eggplant and place it directly on the gas or grill flame. Keep turning it around frequently and make sure it is roasted evenly. Halfway through the process you may want to make deep cuts length wise along the bulkier bottom part of the eggplant so that the insides gets cooked. Once roasted, keep aside. Peel off the skin once it has cooled off and mash well.

Heat oil in a large sauce pan, saute the garlic and ginger just until their flavors come out, add the onions and sauté till golden brown. Now add the chilly powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder and fry the masala till the raw smell is gone. Add tomatoes and let it cook till soft. Add the eggplant and cook on low heat stirring often. Once the bartha is done remember to keep aside half of it before mixing in the pasta .Bring a large pot of water to boil , add the pasta and cook to desired tenderness. Drain and add the pasta to the bartha immediately. Mix well. You can garnish it with minced fresh ginger or cilantro.

29 comments:

Pooja said...

Nice marriage of Italian and Indian :D.
looks yummy :)

Dhivya said...

Nice combo!looks so yummmmmmmmm

ranji said...

hey thats a very neat idea!!!loved the match making:)

Ramya's Mane Adige said...

hey, thats so coool!!!!!! very innovative, I must say :)

Jayashree said...

Nice idea

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Yasmeen said...

lovely presentation. where are you reshma? not blogging any more?

Anonymous said...

Very creative. Will try this recipe soon...

Avisha said...

Both of them end in ian,So my guess would be Inditalian.Wonderful matchmaking of the 2 .Nice recipe.

Unknown said...

Wow...cool recipe...never heard about this...gonna try it soon..right away i'm gonna get the ingredients from www.myethnicworld.com and try it..thanks for sharing.

John said...

It looks so delicious
I'll definitely to come back to your blog again.
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Dazy said...

I'm trying this tonight. I think I'll try to shoot it, but I don't think it will be as pretty as your picture!

Dazy said...

I'm trying this tonight. I think I'll try to shoot it, but I don't think it will be as pretty as your picture!

San Francisco Catering said...

I like the presentation of the food. Presentation is the one thing that i found is very important when I do San Francisco catering

Sureshkumar Punjhayil said...

This is really Nice... Best wishes...!!!

Maaya said...

what a refreshing combination
looks yummy!

Knorr Soup said...

Reshma, what an innovative idea to make the common pasta much spicier and tastier too! Your recipe does not even need too much oil, and this fact in itself can be so healthy for you. Today, with more and more Indians being diagnosed with the lifestyle diseases like obesity, diabetes and heart problems, it is time to bring in a change in the way in which we eat. Eating habits vary among states and age groups, but in general Indians are prone to eating unhealthy and oily foods. If such healthy dishes can be prepared instead, we can start leading an improved and more productive life soon. For some expert tips on healthy eating habits check out our blog at http://knorratseven.blogspot.com/

Anna said...

These looks so yummy. Yours look so delicious, I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks for sharing all of your great recipes.

Anonymous said...

Your pasta looks great! Cant wait to try it on my own. Thanks for sharing! :)

www.ChiCha.in said...

hii.. Nice Post

Thanks for sharing

Jianna Gonzalez said...

Thanks for the information.

Jianna Gonzalez. said...

Keep blogging.

Anonymous said...

wow..sounds scrumptiously tasty..
first time here maheswari..love your space..
awesome presentation with nice recipes..Superb methods.
Am your happy follower now..:)
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Subhie Arun said...

Wow that was really innovative idea... Looking yummy n tempting... Frst time to ur blog.... Loved it. Glad to follow u!!

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