There are a lot of foods that are cooked by the eggplant. One of the famous ones is Borani Bademjan (برانی بادمجان). Borani Bademjan is a classic Persian meal that is healthy and modern. Its translation to English is “baked eggplant” or “Persian Eggplant Dip”. This meal can be served both as an appetizer and as a main meal for lunch and dinner. Of course, I should say that this food is well-known in East Asia like Afghanistan.
Different types of Borani Bademjan:
As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of foods that their main ingredient is eggplant, and they got their names from it. There is just a little difference makes various recipe comes from all over east Asia. Some of them include Baba Ganoush (originated from Lebanon or Syria), Zaalouk (from Morocco), Kashk Bademjan (from Iran), Bademjan feed, and Borani Bademjan (different type from Iran and Afghanistan).
Important nutrition facts:
Borani Bademjan has various rang of vegetables like eggplant, onion, garlic, and tomato, so it has high value and quality nutrition. It is a remarkable source of vitamins like vitamin A with 7% per 1serve, vitamin C with 4.8% per 1 serve, vitamin E with 12.8% per 1 serve, and vitamin B with 5.0% per 1 serve, minerals like sodium with 769.6 mg per 1 serve and potassium with 257 mg per one serve, carbohydrate 8.1gr and dietary fibre with 2.22gr per 1 serve. Also, it has not high calorie with 224cal per 100gr. So it is a healthy and beneficial meal.
The antioxidant and fibre properties of vegetables used in cooking provide more health to our body and reduce ageing and risk of diseases like heart disease and cancers.
Vegetarian tips:
Borani Bademjan is an entirely vegetarian dish. All its ingredients are vegetable base, and there is no need for any changes in its recipe to make it available for vegetarians and vegans. So a vegan and vegetarian can easily taste it and enjoy it. They need to eat Borani Bademjan with no side dish of yoghurt.
Serving style of Borani Bademjan:
Borani Bademjanis is a complete food. So it can be served both as a main meal for lunch and dinner. And as an appetizer in some parties. A bowl of plain and low-fat yoghurt and some bread (any bread according to your preference) always are served along with Borani Bademjan.
Topping and decorating Borani Bademjan with toasted walnuts and chopped fresh mint leaves and fried onion makes it more beautiful and detective than nobody can stop eating it.
What are the ingredients?
Borani Bademjan is a vegetable-based food, so there are various vegetable materials in its recipe. Eggplant, onion, garlic, tomato paste, vegetable oil, water, and flavourings like salt, turmeric, and pepper are the main ingredients that are needed to cook Borani Bademjan. Other elements like fresh mint leaves, toasted walnut, and fried onion are needed for topping and dressing it. Also, yoghurt and bread are served along with Borani Bademjan as a side dish.
How to cook Borani Bademjan?
It is an easy recipe that is available for everybody to cook. In the first step, you should cook your eggplants. You can prepare them with several methods. You can fry them in oil, boil and simmer them, and bake or grill them. Frying the eggplants is not a robust method, because it absorbs a lot of vegetable oil and makes them unhealthy. Boiling, baking, or grilling the eggplants is an excellent and healthy method. Because they get more taste and remain more robust in these methods, then you should fry your onion and garlic.
After that, you should mix fried onion and garlic with tomato paste, water, salt, and turmeric to make Borani Bademjan special sauce. In the next step, you have to prepared and cooked eggplants to the sauce. First, you should put them on the sauce and let it boil for a while and then you need to smash the eggplants and combine with sauce thoroughly. At the end step, you should make it boil without covering the pan with its lid until its water gets absorbed and evaporated completely. Now your Borani Bademjan is ready to serve. You need to pour it to a suitable container and dress it with toasted walnut; fresh chopped mint leaves some yoghurt. Serve it and enjoy it.
Recipe
This recipe is adequate for four people. The preparation time is 10 minutes and cooking time is 40 minutes. You can have this delicious meal in 50 minutes.
Borani Bademjan
Ingredients
- 4 medium-size eggplant
- 1 medium-size onion
- 1 large garlic cloves
- 1 cup of water
- 2 tablespoon tomato paste
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon turmeric
- ½ cup fresh mint leave, chopped
- Required enough vegetable oil
Instructions
- Wash and peel eggplants. Cut off the ends and slice it.
- Fry them in vegetable oil. (if you want them to be healthier, cook them with 3 other methods. The first boil peeled sliced eggplants in a pot. Second, grill them and then put off their burnt skin. third, bake peeled sliced eggplants in the oven)
- For making Borani Bademjan sauce, after Washing and peeling the onion and garlic, slice them and fry them in the vegetable oil.
- After onion and garlic got fried, add tomato paste in it and stir for a while.
- Add salt, turmeric, pepper, and water to it and let it boil. After boiling it, your sauce is ready.
- Put the prepared eggplants on the sauce. Cover the pan with its lid and let it boil for some more minutes.
- Uncover the pan and smash the eggplants into the sauce and mix it well. Let it boil for 15 minutes with no lid until its water gets absorbed and evaporated.
- Pour it to a suitable container.
- Let it cool down somehow until its temperature reaches room temperature.
- Garnish it with fried onion, chopped fresh mint leaves, toasted walnut, and some yogurt.
- Serve and enjoy it.
Notes
Uniqop`s advice
- This dish will taste better when it is at room temperature, not hot and not cold.
- If Borani Bademjan is served along with fresh Noon-e-Sangak (a kind of flat Persian bread), it tastes better.
- There are various types of eggplants. The best kind of them for cooking Borani Bademjan is Chinese eggplant. Because their skin is thinner and they cook up faster, and as they have fewer seeds because their seeds are a bit bitter, they are sweeter.
