If you love eggplants, you got to try this popular Indian dish made with grilled eggplants, onions, tomatoes and spices and herbs. It simply tastes delicious with a unique smoky flavor thar comes from grilled eggplants in the oven or on direct fire.

Ingredients

• 500 – 600 gram (1.2 Ibs.) eggplants
• 4 medium garlic cloves
• 1 to 2 green chilies
• 1 teaspoon cooking oil

• 1/1/2 Tbs cooking oil
• 3/4 cup， tomatoes, deseeded and roughly chopped
• 1/2 tsp, minced ginger
• 3 -4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp, Kashmiri chili powder
• 1/3 to 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 Tbs lime juice (optional)
• 2 Tbs coriander leaves

Grill the eggplant

• Preheat the oven to 460F
• Place an aluminium foil over a baking tray or use a griddle. Cut the eggplant to two parts and makes two splits on each pat. Brush the cooking oil over eggplants. Insert the garlic cloves and green chilies deep inside the slits. Place the parts on the tray or the griddle with skin side facing top.
• Bake or grill in the oven for about 20-25 mins
• Once done, check by inserting a fork into the eggplant. It should go in smoothly & easily meaning it is soft and well cooked.
• Cool the eggplant and peel the skin. Mash or chop the eggplant, grilled garlic and green chilies. Peel and chop the tomatoes as well.

Make Baingan Bharta

• Add oil to a hot pot, then add chopped ginger and garlic. Saute for 1-2 minutes till aromatic.
• Add tomato and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add Kashmiri chili powder.
• Stir in mashed eggplant, garlic and green chilies. Saute for about 7 to 8 minutes.
• Stir in Garam Masala. Then immediately turn the heat off.
• Taste test by adding more salt and green chili if required (adding thinly sliced fresh chili is perfectly fine). Garnish with coriander leaves. Add a splash of lime juice if you like.
• Serve baingan bharta with roti, rice or naan.

Serve 4 -6

300g          all-purpose flour

165g          water in room temperature

1/3 teaspoon   salt

Sauce

400g          chicken fillet, thinly sliced

1 cup        cooking oil

1 medium-sized           yellow onion, minced

2 tablespoons    ginger. minced

2 tablespoons    garlic, minced

2 tablespoon    Chinese cooking wine

1-2 cinnamon stick

2-3 bay leaves    

3-4 dried red chilli1

1 teaspoon      Sichuan Peppercorn, optional

1 can (28oz) can of whole tomato, whole plum tomatoes preferred

1-2 stalk of celery/bok choy

1 teaspoon    salt

2 tablespoons    light soy sauce 2

2 teaspoons     white sugar

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, water and salt, stirring in one direction. If your dough is too dry, add 1 tablespoon of water at a time until you have a bread dough-like mixture. Knead the dough for about 8 to 10 minutes.
2. Push the dough into a large flat circle 1 cm thick and cut the dough into 1.5cm strips. Roll the dough into long noodles of 1 cm in diameter by using your hands. If the dough is sticking, dab some oil on your fingers. Wind the noodles into a spiral on a plate, attaching one after another, lightly coating the noodles with oil to prevent sticking. You can layer the noodles on top of each other. Cover the plate with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, prepare the ingredients for your sauce: slice the chicken fillet, mince the ginger, garlic, and yellow onions.
4. Heat 3 tablespoons of cooking oil in a frying pan. Add ginger, garlic (also leave small portion of garlic and ginger for later use) and fry over medium heat until fragrant. Add minced yellow onions and fry till soft. Then put into sliced chicken fillet to fry for about 2-3 minutes, add the cooking wine and cook for another 1 minute. Turn off the heat. Move the chicken to a separate bowl. Set aside.
5. Clean the frying pan, add 4 tablespoons of cooking oil. Add into spices (cinnamon stick, bay leaves, dried red chilli, Sichuan peppercorn). Fry over the lowest heat. Depending on your stove’s heat, it can take 2-3 minutes to infuse the oil. Watch the dried chilli, take care not to let them blacken. When the oil starts to turn brown, your infused oil is ready.
6. Remove the spices from oil and add into the canned whole tomatoes. Fry the tomatoes for about 10 minutes till they become sauce. Use a spatula to break down the tomatoes. In the same frying pan, add into the cooked chicken. Mix well. Add salt, light soy sauce, sugar. Taste and adjust the flavor to your preference.  You can also add vinegar if a sour taste is desired.  Add the green celery or bok choy and cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the remaining minced ginger and garlic. Mix well.
7. Prepare a pot of boiling water to cook noodles.
8. Unwrap the noodles and roll each section to ½ cm in diameter. Using an up-and-down motion, stretch the noodles apart by banging the noodles on the surface of the table, gradually moving your hands farther apart. When the noodles get too long, fold the noodles and continue to stretch until you reach your desired thickness. Place noodles directly in the pot of boiling water. When foam begins to rise up, turn down the heat or add 1/3 cup of cold water to keep from boiling over. When the noodles float to the surface, strain them and place a bowl.
9. Top the noodles with the sauce. 

Make 6-8 servings

• 2 cups dried red beans, soak overnight
• 8 cups water
• ½ cup rock sugar
• Goji berries, for garnishing

Method

1. Rinse the beans under cold water. Then, soak the beans in water for at least 8 hours (overnight).
2. Drain the beans and transfer to a medium-sized pot. Add 6 cups of fresh water. Bring to a boil, then let simmer for 1 hour. Over the course of the hour, add an additional 2 cups of water as needed.
3. This is an optional step if you will wish to speed up the cooking process. When the beans look soft and broken down, use an immersion blender to blend until the beans are just broken up–it shouldn’t be completely smooth (unless that’s your preference–you’re the cook here!). You can also transfer to a blender and pulse a few times until you achieve your desired consistency.
4. (Transfer the blended mixture back to the pot.) If you like a soupier consistency, feel free to add additional water at this stage until you reach your desired consistency. Add the rock sugar. Stir over medium to medium-high heat to dissolve the sugar. The mixture should bubble very gently.
5. Serve hot or cold.