A little over two weeks ago I purchased four eggplants at the Saturday morning farmer’s market here in Richmond. The noblest of the eggplants travelled with high hopes to Ann Arbor but made its way back; the other three have just been lolling about in the bottom of a veg drawer since purchase. I’ve been putting off doing anything with them because my favorite thing to do with eggplant is make baigan bharta, a roasted and smashed Indian eggplant delight. But with the hour required to roast the eggplants + 35 minutes for everything else, it is a dish that takes some time…time I just haven’t really had.
But oh, I am loathe to throw away food. Side note: I haven’t always been this way. I remember my mom fussing at me frequently for purchasing vegetables and then letting them go to waste. I tell you this now, Meesar: those days are past.
Tonight was the night that I decided I absolutely had (time?) to do something with the four mostly spoiled eggplants languishing in the crisper. Ever hopefully, I speared them, brushed them with olive oil, and roasted them in a 415 degree oven for a little over an hour. When they came out, the skins were black–to be expected–but, upon prodding, so were the insides–unquestionably not to be expected.
Fresh eggplant, when roasted properly, should give way easily to gentle poking. The skin should strip away effortlessly, leaving the creamy-beige flesh to kind of sigh out. Once cut in to, the whole thing should just sort of collapse, its structural integrity destroyed by roasting. It will often be creamy enough to skip a trip to the food processor.
Let me just put it this way: all of the eggplants save one exhibited none of these characteristics. They were tough, held their form past roasting, and definitely needed to be run through the food processor!
Nevertheless, I was able to make one of my best baigan bhartas ever. Not only that, but because I had four eggplants to get rid of and I usually employ only one while making this recipe, I QUADRUPLED the recipe with devastatingly delicious results.
(Something of a) Recipe: Three huge onions chopped & browned in olive oil + 8 tsp coriander, 4 tsp cumin, 2 tsp paprika, 2 tsp garam masala, 2 tsp chili powder, a few pinches of turmeric + four pureed eggplants + tons and tons of garlic (uhm, about 10 cloves) + two chopped jalepenos + a cup of chopped cilantro + half a bag of frozen peas + 28 oz can of chopped tomatoes (I usually use fresh) + a homemade vegan creme = 16 servings of super tasty deliciousness or meals for the next three days. Good to know it can be done!
Though it is a tremendous understatement to say that baigan bharta isn’t much to look at, here’s a picture:
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Vegetable plates are mainstays of deep south diners. Most keep about eight different kinds of cooked(to death, mind you) vegetables in chafing-dishes for customers to mix & match. Green beans, field peas, creamed corn, fried okra, collards, squash casserole, and, perplexingly, macaroni & cheese, are routine offerings. Choose any four, add a cat-head biscuit* or a piece of cornbread (no sugar, please–that’d be cake) on the side and it’s a meal. Small-town holes-in-the-wall sell ‘em for about $5 for a 4-veg plate; big-time city joints like Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Atlanta will ask double, but you get more options. No matter where you are, vegetable plates are the cheapest full meals on the menu. Unfortunately most of the vegetable sides are laden with eggs, cheese, and whole milk. (In Atlanta, choose Soul Vegetarian or Calabash Vegetarian Kitchen for sublime vegan vegetable plates.)
I grew up with vegetable plates because I was raised by poor gardeners. On at least a large portion of an acre, my parents grew everything, and we ate all of it–except for the eggplant, of course. (Woefully, it was mostly for looks.)Our parents worked hard so that my brother and I could pile our plates. We may have received a new pair of shoes only once a year at Christmas, but boy, did we eat.
Because I babysit for a precocious first grader every Tuesday night, I had to put together a quick dinner. Seeking onions, I stopped by Richmond’s Tuesday evening farmer’s market shortly after it opened. I picked up two lbs of skinny sweet potatoes ($1), four acorn squash (.50/ea), and an enormous cabbage ($1) from Preston for a measly $4. For all that food, I felt guilty about accepting my one buck change.
Once home, I rapidly split the cabbage & boiled it just like momma taught me: a little water in the bottom of your pan, precious, a tablespoon of Earth Balance vegan margarine (she’d use butter), salt & pepper and let it steam a while til near-mush. I made short work out of the sweet potatoes, too: washed, cut, boiled, and mashed with unsweetened soymilk, a little eBal, salt & ground white pepper, and they were ready to go. Our proteinacious side was Road’s End Organic penne & chreese, an absolutelydisgusting and dreadful approximation of cheesy macaroni that I make palatable with the addition of tons of nutritional yeast, tamari, spicy mustard, eBal, and a splash of soymilk. It was on close-out at the Co-op.
Even factoring in what I paid for the spices, tamari, soymilk, Earth Balance and other ingredients, the entire meal cost about $6 to make. Since each side made about four servings, I made out with two meals for two people at $1.50 a pop. Eating locally, eating cheap…everyone wins!
*”cat-head biscuit” : not quite what it sounds like, this simply refers to a soft, fluffy white-flour** biscuit about the size of a cat’s head.
**My mom, and many other Southern women, swear by White Lily–but I go for the unbleached stuff.
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