Eggplant heaven!

Its freezing cold. I mean like my-toes-will-fall-off cold. The heating is finally up and running...it wasn't until yesterday. I have a new respect for electric space heaters. It literally saved my life the last 2 weeks or so. That and thick socks.

I've been craving baingan bharta for the last 10 days. So, I finally bought an eggplant and did the deed yesterday. BTW... the best baingan bharta I ever made. So, my experiments with baingan bharta have been iffy to say the least. The first time, I tried to smoke it on the gas, like my mom in India, and set off the smoke alarm. So, I got scared and threw it away before the cops arrived. I'd only been in the US 2 months at the time. It was a new and scary land. Where people arrested you for smoking an eggplant on the stove. So, I stashed the guilty eggplant in the trash and dumped it. Wiping the scene clean of evidence, so to speak. The next time (almost a year later) I tried to bake it in the oven wrapped in al foil. The result was OK...but not quite bharta-like. Then about 6 months ago, I took a friend's advice, and pressure cooked the eggplant. The result was gooey. It had the consistency of baingan bharta....but that flavor..that smoked flavor was lacking.

So yesterday, I smoked it on the stove again. It helped that it was not one of those giant eggplants the size of a conehead or anything. If anything, it was medium sized. I disconnected the smoke alarm. (yes, yes..illegal and dangerous, but whatever!) And smoked it till was burnt nicely. And voila. The most phenomenal baingan bharta ever.

Lessons learnt: 1). Size does matter..smaller the better.
2). The old way is the best way. There's a reason they smoke it on the stove. Because it works!