Banjaan borani with salted yoghurt

This is a traditional Afghan braised eggplant dish, served with a generous amount of salted, garlic-infused yoghurt. The recipe originates from my mother Farida Ayubi. We share a version of this banjaan dish at our Adelaide Afghan restaurant, Parwana, where we’ve proudly converted many eggplant haters!

Banjaan borani with salted yoghurt Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  4

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  20 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• ¼ cup (60 ml) sunflower oil
• 1 large brown onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 long green chilli, roughly chopped
• 2 fresh curry leaves
• 4 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp cumin
• 2 dried bay leaves
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 large eggplants, peeled and diced (3 cm x 4 cm chunks)
• Ground paprika, to serve
• 4 mint leaves, to serve

For the salted yoghurt

• 300 g natural yogurt
• ¼ cup (60 ml) water
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped

Instructions

1. Heat the oil over medium heat in a medium heavy-based saucepan. Add the onion and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes, or until softened. Add the garlic, chilli and curry leaves and cook, stirring, for 1 minute, or until fragrant.
2. Stir through the tomatoes and cook for 3-4 minutes, or until slightly softened, then add the spices, bay leaves and salt.
3. Add the eggplant chunks and stir well to coat. Cover the saucepan with a lid and allow to cook for 5-7 minutes. The eggplant chunks should start to release some water. Reduce the heat to low and keep covered, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is cooked.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the yoghurt, water, salt and garlic. Whisk well to combine.
5. To serve, discard the bay leaves from the saucepan. Spoon some garlic yoghurt onto a serving platter and then top with the bajaan borani. Drizzle with the remaining yoghurt then garnish with paprika and mint.

Note

If only large eggplants are available, use 2 large instead of 3 medium.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

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