Baingan Bharta with Bell Pepper/Capsicum

Baingan Bharta is a roasted eggplant dish, originated in the villages of Punjab. Baingan Bharta is a healthy dish - eggplant/baingan is the main ingredient here, which is low in fat and sodium and high in dietary fiber, vitamins C and B6, magnesium, phosphorus and potassium. Eggplants are roasted on open flame in this recipe to get a smoky flavour. Add to that tomatoes, green chillies and onion and you've a low calorie mighty nutritional punch in one single dish.
For this recipe, large eggplants are prefereable, as it has less seeds and easy to roast. To make a little variation from regular bharta, I added Capsicum/ green bell pepper in it and it tasted really great. I love to cook this dish with mustard oil, as it gives a very distinct flavour to this recipe. I would like to share with you the recipe today............ Hope you all also like it

Ingredients :
Eggplant/bringal/baingan : 1-2 (large)
Green bell pepper/capsicum : 1 (medium) -cut in cubes
Onion : 1 (large) -chopped
Ginger : 1"(grated)
Garlic : 4 cloves(grated)
Green chillies : 2 (chopped finely)
Tomato : 1 (large) -chopped finely
Cumin seed : 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder : 2 tsp.
Red chilli powder : 2 tsp.(as per taste)
Coriander powder : 2 tsp.
Lemon juice : 1/2 tsp. or Amchur(dry mango) powder : 1 tsp.
Salt to taste
Mustard oil : 2 tblsp.
Fresh coriander leaves for garnishing

Method :

Roasting Eggplants : Slit from the middle upto the stem, keep the stem intact. Then brush mustard oil all over the eggplant and sprinkle little salt over it and stand it on a burner of a gas stove over a medium flame. After one side is charred(turns black), turn to the other side holding the stem. Do the same thing until all sides up to the bottom of the eggplant is thoroughly charred and the flesh of eggplant is cooked.
Just after the whole bringal is charred, drop into a bowl of cold water, it helps the charred skin to come off easily. After 5 minutes, take out the skin. Cut the stem out and mash the flesh or pulp thoroughly, (there shouldn't be any lump left) and keep it aside.
Heal oil in a pan, temper with cumin seed. When they crackle, add onions. Saute for a minute, then add capsicum and saute with the onions. Then add grated ginger-garlic, green chillies. Saute again for 1-2 minutes.
Then add tomatoes and saute until tomatoes get pulpy, then add all the powdered spices. Cook until oil seperates from the spices. Add the mashed eggplant and mix well. Season with salt and saute for few more minutes. Lastly, I love to add little lemon juice or amchur powder, as it just gives a little tang in the dish and blends the spices well . Mix well and remove from heat.
Garnish with fresh coriander leaves. Serve it with simple chapati/roti or rice and any Indian Dal recipe. Just simply divine..........