Name: Bhagara Baigan
Yield: 4-6 people
Ingredients: 1 cinnamon stick; Salt to taste; 15 g peanuts; 20 g sesame seeds; 20 g poppy seeds; 5 g fenugreek seeds; 500 g aubergines (round and even sized); 150 g chopped onions; Sunflowe /vegetable oil; 10 g charoli seeds; 10 g dry grated coconut; 5 g mustard seeds; 4-5 red chillies; 5 g Bhojwar masala (regional Indian spice powder); 10 g ginger and garlic paste; 25 g curry leaves; 5 g turmeric; 20 g tamarind paste

Instructions

Wash the aubergines and slice into halves with the stem still attached to the aubergine.
Add the aubergines to a bowl of water with some salt, and fully submerge and soak while the rest of the dish is being prepared.
Shallow fry or roast the onions in 3 tablespoons of oil until they are light brown (about 8 - 10 minutes on a low heat).
Then grind the onions into a paste using a pestle and mortar or a food blender.
Shallow fry the peanuts, poppy seeds, coriander seeds, sesame seeds, charoli seeds, coconut, fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds, red chillies and cinnamon in 2-3 tablespoons of oil.
After frying grind this all into a fine paste to form a masala mixture.
Mix this ground masala with the Bhojwar masala powder and the ground onion paste.
Stuff the aubergines with about ¾ of the combined paste and keep the remaining paste separate.
Shallow fry the curry leaves, ginger and garlic paste, turmeric and the remaining masala paste in a saucepan.
Add the stuffed aubergines and fry on a low heat till they soften (try to keep them intact).