Mar 13, 20213 min read

Smoky Eggplant Kebabs with Beetroot Puris

Updated: Jul 29, 2023

Step 1 : Gather your ingredients. Now you can use less number of eggplants, if you want to make a smaller batch. I'm using 5 eggplants, because you know - Go big or go home! Lol

Eggplants - 5
Tomato - 1
Jalapeno - 1, I don't have it here in the picture.
Garlic - 1 bulb
Green chilies - 10 (can use less)
Mustard Oil - 2 tbsp. If you don't have it, you can buy it from here.

Traditionally these are the vegetables, that you stick to while making a bharta, since you really want only the eggplant flavor to come through.

Kebab Mixture Ingredients :

Onion - 1, chopped
Potatoes - 2, boiled and peeled
Cilantro - 1/2 bunch - finely chopped
Half a lemon
Breadcrumbs - 1 cup (adjust this according to the amount of kebabs you are making)
Dry Spices (adjust this too, as per your taste)
1. Red Chili Powder - 1/2 tsp
2. Cumin powder - 1/2 tsp
3. Coriander powder - 2 tsp
4. Chat Masala - 2 tsp
5. Dry Mango powder - 1 tsp
6. Salt - I eyeballed it. You can put 2 tsp, and then check, how much more your need.

Puri Ingredients :

Beetroot - 1
Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Semolina - 1/4 cup
Salt - 2 tsp
Oil for frying - 4 cups

Step 2 : Now make a cut like so on the eggplant, and giving about 3-4 cm space, keep indenting the eggplant all along it's body.

Step 3 : In each of the eggplant, insert 2 garlic cloves in the indent and alternate it with 2 green chilis, in the next indent.

Step 4 : Once all the cuts of all the eggplants are filled, with garlic and chilis, then brush the eggplants and the tomato with mustard oil.

Step 5 : On a grill pan, place the eggplants two at a time, on the stove at low flame. You want to chare the outer layer of the eggplant, and we're doing this on low, so that the eggplant gets cooked thoroughly from inside as well.

Step 6 : Peel the outer layer, once the eggplant is slightly cooled off. The peel will come off very easily.

Step 7 : Roast the remaining eggplants and the tomato. If you have some leftover garlic, then grill them as well.

Step 8 : Puree them all in a blender or food processor.

Step 9 : Now mix the ingredients for the kebab mixture, with this puree.

Mix it well, and set this mixture in the fridge, while we make our puris. If you don't want to make puris, then you can make the kebabs right away!! Drizzle some oil on non stick pan, and place patties of this mixture on it, and sear it on both sides. Look at Step 15 to see how.

Step 10 : Take the beetroot, and drizzle some olive oil and Himalayan salt on it, and roast it in the oven at 425 F for 20 -25 min.

Step 11 : Peel off the layer of the beetroot, after it's roasted. It will come off easily. Then chop it. Blend this to a puree.

Step 12 : Now in a bowl take

Whole Wheat Flour - 1 cup
Semolina - 1/4 cup
Salt - 1 tsp
Beetroot Puree - I didn't add all the puree. Add little by little, as much you need. I had about 1-2 tbsp of puree left at the end.

Step 13 : Make a dough of this. There would be absolutely no need to add any water. We are substituting water with puree. Let this dough rest for 10 minutes.

Step 14 : In a frying pan, or whatever it is that you use for frying, add 4 cups of oil, and heat it to around 400 F. Take a ball of dough, and roll it, not too thin though. Make about 4 inch circles of them, using a cookie cutter, and put these in the oil, and start pressing them gently with the skimmer. This will make hem puff up.

Step 15 : I made really small puris too. You can experiment with the size of the puri as much as you want. Just make sure, that they aren't rolled out too thin.

At the same time, I started cooking my kebabs.