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