Anjali Pathak’s Charred Baby Eggplants

The first time we made this dish from Anjali Pathak’s The Indian Family Kitchen (from which our recipe is adapted), we loved it so much we made it twice more that very month. Now whenever we see beautiful baby eggplants — especially the streaky light-purple-and-white ones — this is what we make. What makes it special is the crunchy topping of coconut, mustard seeds, curry leaves and ginger, with a nice zing of red chiles that gets smoothed out with dabs of yogurt. When you find fresh curry leaves, buy extra — they freeze really well.

We wrote about it in a September 2020 story about the most delicious dishes we made from cookbooks during the pandemic. We have a mini “Cookbooks We Love” review in progress on this book.

Ingredients

6 baby eggplants, cut in half and flesh scored with a cross

2 tablespoons canola oil

For the filling

2 teaspoons black mustard seeds

2 teaspoons peeled and finely chopped ginger

1 to 2 fresh red chiles, finely chopped

15 to 18 fresh curry leaves

4 heaped tablespoons dried unsweetened coconut

3 tablespoons chopped chives

Big pinch of sea salt

To finish

1/3 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

Instructions

1. Heat an outdoor grill or the oven to 425 degrees F. Rub the eggplants with 1 tablespoon of the oil and grill with the lid down, or place on a baking sheet cut-side down and roast until the skin starts to change color and turn crispy, and the flesh is soft, about 10 to 15 minutes.

2. In the meantime, make the filling. Gently heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in a small skillet and add the mustard seeds. When the seeds start to jump out of the pan, add the ginger, chiles and curry leaves and allow to cook for 1 minute before stirring in the coconut. This should start to toast and turn golden-brown after about 30 seconds. When it does, turn off the heat and add half the chives and the big pinch of salt. Stir well, taste and adjust the seasoning (it may need more salt).

3. Remove the eggplants from the grill or oven and flip them over so the flesh side is up. Fill them with the stuffing, arrange them on a serving platter, drizzle with the yogurt and sprinkle on the remaining chives before serving.

Recipe notes

• The original recipe called for 10 baby eggplants, but we didn’t have enough filling to stuff that many, so we reduced it to 6.

• The original recipe included honey to drizzle on with the eggplant. We felt it was sweet enough with the coconut and therefore omitted it and preferred the no-honey version.

• The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of Greek yogurt. That was not enough to drizzle everywhere, so we upped the amount. We also changed from Greek to regular yogurt, which has a consistency more like Indian yogurt and drizzles more easily.