Begun Bhaja recipe With step by step photos – Begun Bhaja also known as Baingan Bhaja are pan fried or shallow fried marinated slices of Aubergines. Begun Bhaja is a Bengali dish and there are a lot of variations to this recipe.
To make the Begun Bhaja you need the large variety of eggplant similar to the one which we use for Baingan Bharta. The larger varieties of baingan have less seeds and more flesh.
When cooked the flesh becomes tender with a slight sweet tinge to it… Just scooping up the tender cooked flesh with some bread is so delicious.
This is my mom’s recipe and I just love to have the eggplant fries with some bread or rotis. One of the dishes I often make when I am short of time & creative ideas.
I simply love aubergines sauteed, stir fried, roasted, mashed… Cooked in any way. It is one of my favorite veggies.
In this Begun Bhaja recipe, I have used mustard oil for frying the baingan and rice flour to coat the baingan. However, even sunflower oil or any other oil will taste good. Rice flour gives a nice crispiness to the fries. You can also substitute the rice flour with chickpea flour.
Again using rice flour is optional. You can just marinate the baingan slices in the masala and then fry it directly. Both ways they taste good. Similarly like baingan bhaja you can also make Aloo bhaja or this Brinjal fry recipe (baingan fry) from the Maharashtrian cuisine.
One of the best combinations for a bhaja muger khichuri is baingan bhaja. However you can also serve baingan bhaja with bread, rotis or naan.
Few more veggies recipes for you!
Begun Bhaja
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant cut into half inch round slices (baingan or aubergine)
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)
- 1 teaspoon garam masala powder (optional)
- 1 teaspoon dry mango powder or amchur powder (optional)
- rice flour as required
- salt as required
- mustard oil for frying, you can also use sunflower oil
Instructions
Preparation to make Begun Bhaja
- Rinse the eggplant (baingain) well in water. Pat dry with a kitchen towel.
- Now slice the eggplant in 1/2 inch thick roundels.
- Soak these slices in salted water for 15-20 minutes. Remove and pat dry all the slices.
Making Begun Bhaja
- Now add all the spice powders and salt and mix the slices well. Marinate for 5-7 minutes.
- Heat oil in a pan. Take rice flour in a plate. Coat each slice with rice flour. Dust off the extra rice flour.
- Now pan fry the baingan slices till crisp and golden brown on both sides.
- Drain baingan slices on paper tissues.
- Serve baingan bhaja hot with yogurt or any yogurt dip and some bread or rotis or naans.
Notes
Tips for making begun bhaja recipe
- The baingan can be sliced into thinner or thicker slices. Thicker slices will take more time to cook.
- Baingan absorbs oil while cooking. So, it is always better to coat the slices with some flour. Here in this recipe I have used rice flour. It serves two fold benefit - firstly, the baingan does not absorb much oil and secondly, rice flour makes the coating crisp from outside. So from outside the baingan is crisp whereas from inside it is soft.
- You can also use chickpea flour (besan) or all purpose flour (maida) to make begun bhaja.
- Baingan discolors quickly once it is chopped. Hence, you can put the chopped slices in a bowl of water or use it right away.
- Not all baingan are bitter. Some of them can be very sweet. However, its better to put the slices in salted water as one cannot come to know by its look or appearance if it is bitter or not. As a general rule, while buying bigger eggplants, the eggplant should be light with a firm skin.
- I have used mustard oil, but you can use any good vegetable oil for frying.
- You can either shallow fry or deep fry the baingan.
Nutrition Info (approximate values)
How to make Baingan Bhaja or Begun Bhaja
1: Put the sliced brinjals/baingan in salt water for 20 minutes. This is so that the bitter juices get removed.
2: Now marinate the baingan with all the spice powders except rice flour. Keep for 5-7 minutes.
3: Now take rice powder in a plate. Take each slice and coat it with the rice powder. Ensure that you coat the marinated slices evenly. Dust off the remaining rice powder by gently tapping the slices.
4: In a shallow pan heat mustard oil. Fry the baingan/brinjal slices on both sides till crisp and golden.
5: Drain baingan slices on kitchen paper towels.
6: Serve Begun Bhaja hot with bread, rotis or naan accompanied with a plain yogurt, sauce or green chutney. Begun Bhaja can also be served as a snack or side dish. There is no garnishing done in this dish. Just to get some color for photography, I have added specks of mint leaves here and there. These fries have to be served hot as soon as they are fried.
This recipe turned out to be so tasty!!
Thank you
thanks for the feedback priya and welcome.
NICE & TASTY
thank you.
Very simple and nice recipe. Tried it with Bengali Khichdi. Tasted yummy and without much oil. Thanks for sharing and please keep sharing good recipes.
Welcome Manisha. Thanks for your appreciation and positive feedback on begun bhaja recipe.
Hi,
Want to try to recipe.. Just a question.. Can I put the baingan in the oven instead of frying it?
yes sharmila, you can bake at 180 degrees celsius till the baingan gets crisp and golden. some oil can be brushed on the sliced baingan.
Thanks will try ????
I love your recipes..
Welcome Sharmila. Glad to know this.
Simple and yummy recipe…Thanks dear 🙂
Welcome Jayanthi
Can I try with All purpose flour ? Shd I put seasoning?
you can use all purpose flour. or you can even skip flour. seasoning can also be added.
Tried this recipe with besan instead of rice flour ! It was great too!
Thanks and have a nice day!?
welcome alisha. thanks for sharing positive feedback on begun bhaja recipe. yes with besan the taste will also be good.
Hello there, I tried this recipe and I must say it was very yumm… I wish i could post some pics to show how it came out… Dal, chawal and Baingan, it was just yummy… Thanks so much for the recipe! 🙂
welcome snigdha. glad to know this. you can send photos to facebook page.
Amit dude you made my day…
thanks prashant
Really nice and tasty recipe!Also very simple to make.Good getaway from usual masalas i am preparing.
However,it’s a must to have paper towel to soak up all the fat.Otherwise it would be too oily.
Had those baingans with mashed potatos,so India met West in a way:D
thanks luka for sharing your positive feedback. i agree with you.
Thanks a ton,Dassana! Ur blog has been a boon for beginners like me 🙂 U simplify the most complicated of the recipes and give us the confidence to try new dishes! I started cooking with very less interest n am now enjoying cooking.. Thanks to you! Keep going!
welcome sapana. glad to know that you are enjoying cooking. its a good creative activity.
I made this last night for dinner and it was so delicious! I served it with mint coriander chutney and I wanted to eat it all! The recipes on your site are easy to follow and delicious!
thanks laura. this is my favorite too. i usually pair these fried eggplants with moong dal khichdi or just dal-rice.
Want to add that, here in Bengal, we add a little sugar, along with the salt and turmeric, during marination. This is a very important part and is actually the ingredient that removes the mild bitterness and imparts the sweet tinge that you have mentioned.
thanks for sharing the tip sudipta.
Hi,
There might be an confusion, as it more like beguni, reason being…in begun bhaja, we bengali never add flour or any masala, flour is mixed in beguni preprations. In begun bhaja, eggplant is marinated with salt, sugar & haldi only, than shallow fry.
Beguni, we make flour batter, with maida(cake flour), salt, chilli powder, ajwain or black cumin & than thin slices of eggplant is dipped & than deep fried. served hot with amchur powder sprinkled to it.
thanks tiya for letting me know the difference between beguni and begun bhaja. i know in begun bhaja no flour or spices are added. this way my mom makes and thats why in this recipe i have used rice flour and red chilli powder. since i have shared her recipe, i have posted it the way she makes this.
Hi,
Just want to let you know that your recipes are awesome. They’re easy to make and taste great. I love the tips you provide along with the recipes. I recently got married and my hubby had no expectations in terms of my cooking abilities. He grew up in calcutta so I ,made Bengali chana daal using your recipe, he was so impressed! He said it was just like how they get it in wb. Today I’m making Bengali khichdi with bengan bhaja. I’m sure it will come out well 🙂
thanks mp for this positive feedback. keep trying more recipes.
Hi dassana,
I ve been meaning to let u know for quite a while now how much I lov ur recipes. They are exactly how my mom made stuff n sometimes since I m in a different timezone I cant call her for tips. Now I justopen ur wwebsite. … ur cooking is great. Simple traditional food just the wayI like it without any fancy ideas…. thankyou so much for taking out time n sharing ur recipes… u r a pro…btw is the pic really you… u look awfully young to b this expertised… 🙂
Cheers richa
thanks a lot richa. your comment means a lot to me. yes its my pic, taken almost year and a half back. i started cooking when i was very young. so its like a skill developed over a certain period of time and much more after i started to blog… and yes, i have to thank my genes and my diet for looking so young 😉
Hi Dassana,
I tried this yesterday and it came out very well.. My hubby and son liked it..Thank u sooo much 4 posting such nice recipes…
I made this for lunch and had a few slices left over.. so i used them in my burger and it was so tasty.. I thought of sharing it with u.. It goes this way.. First, I toasted the burger bun by adding generous amt of butter, then I spread Hummus (yeah I had made hummus 2 days b4 for some other dish and refrigerated it) on both the sides of the bun. Then kept these baingan baja slices , then as usual a cheese slice and topped with fresh veggies onion, tomato and cilantro… hmmm yummy it was.. and i named it as B (cube) burger meaning baingan baja burger… Hope u try it too when u make it the next time… 🙂
thanks indu. the burger you made is really a good one. thanks for sharing your baingan bhaja burger recipe. when there are leftovers at home, i just brush some olive oil on bread and sandwich the baingan bhaga. sprinkle some toasted sesame seeds on top and just serve them like that. will try your way next time.
I tried this recipe last night n yet again…. ! No words to describe how tasty it was , and it looked wonderful too , though i skipped the rice flour but still the taste was awesome … i think i am addicted to this site now !! ;p
thanks smita for this nice feedback
Baingan bhaja recipe looks easy to prepare and tasty as well.
similar to this is another recipe: whisk half cup of fresh yoghurt and put in a wide plate.
take out the fried baingan dices from the frying pan into the yoghurt plate. Spread a little
(one table spoon) yoghurt on the dices, add 3-4 mint or coriander leaves and serve.
What a nice combination of White-brinjal color and top with green leaves.
thanks for this suggestion. if i am not mistaken, then this dish is called as baingan borani. i shall surely try next time.
Hey, I loved this post and mainly the clicks, they look so tempting, even though I am not too much into sauted aubergines still looking at these pics I am surely going to try this soon… lovely!
hi there
i have always been a silent reader at yr blog but i must say yrs is a blog where everyone should look forward into, innovative + easy and tasty recipes being a maharahtrian yr recipes are authentic and this brinjal fry is something new to me with rice flour YUMMY IT WAS when i tried it out last nite and keep posting like this recipes
take care
thanks sunita for your encouraging and warm comments.
Thanks Pratiksha. I hope the recipe goes well with you.
Hey thanx for the recipe…my husband loves baingan fries and I didn't know how to make them . Will try it out tonight ! Thanx again 🙂