Baigan Choka (Roasted Eggplant Dip)

Love Caribbean food? Try this Trinidadian, east Indian derived dish called baigan choka. Roasted eggplant (aubergine) infused with garlic pieces then mashed in a smooth puree with black pepper, salt, onions and drizzled with oil. Made on the stove top or using an oven.

I have another amazing Caribbean recipe to share with you called Baigan choka. This one is from the wonderful shores of Trinidad and Tobago known as sweet T&T.

This dish can be served for breakfast and can also double up as a great appetiser for a main meal or simply serve as a side dish - it's flavoursome and easy to prepare.

In the Caribbean you will find some islands have a monopoly on certain cuisines. For example Jamaican are famous of all things jerk based, it's the home of jerk anything.

Other the other hand, Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana are more Indian influenced islands so they hold their own when it comes to roti, chana, aloo and choka is another dish.

There are some recipes that are the same with each island referring to it by a different name .i.e Jamaican Asham aka Chili Bibi

Baigan Choka although East Indian in origin has evolved and adapted to suit both the black and Asian population of Trinidad and Tobago/Guyana.

It is like the baba ganoush of the Caribbean excluding the use of tahini.

I'm a huge fan of choka, which means roasting a vegetable to yield a smoky flavour. You can do this to almost any vegetable.  My favourite is the sister recipe which is the infamous Tomato Choka

Just like you would prepare Roasted Breadfruit  on a open flame. This recipe is at its peak when made on a open flame, believe me the open flame imparts an incredible taste that won't even compare to the oven.

Recipe modification

I had to revisit this recipe post by tweaking it to add the how you can make it on your stove up, indirectly on the flame as well as leaving the old oven instructions.

Another update to draw your attention to is the onion, I now use only half of a small onion that I chunkay as well add some to the eggplant once it has been roasted.

This is reflected in my open flame pictures but not the oven ones, so keep that in mind.

Ingredients you will need

Open flame method

• Make two slits in each egg plant
• Put the two pieces of garlic in each eggplant, make another slit for the scotch bonnet
• Place a rack over the stoves flame and on medium heat roast the eggplant for about 10-15 minuted each side until it looks limp.
• Use tongs to carefully remove the eggplant and allow to cool down.
• Slice open the eggplant and scoop out the inside into a bowl
• Use a fork to mash into a puree then add the onions, black pepper and pink salt
• Meanwhile chunkay by heating up the olive on medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cook until golden then drizzle over the eggplant.

How to make baigan choka (oven version)

Make some slits in the eggplant and put the pieces of garlic cloves inside.

Place the eggplant and scotch bonnet on a tray ready to roast. As you can see once the eggplant has roasted the skin will appear to wrinkle and look limp.

Scoop out the flesh and mash it with the scotch bonnet and some of the onions then pour on the oil (chunkay)

Notes and tips

• Be sure to go to the section entitled "open flame method" if you want to follow that method.
• Feel free to serve this recipe with some Gluten Free Roti.
• The heat comes from the use of the whole scotch bonnet with the membrane intact. Omit if you don't care for spiciness or use the skin only.
• Eggplant is also known as aubergine in the UK
• If you are doing the stove top method, it can get messy so lay down some aluminium foil.
• I used an old cooling rack  to roast the eggplant over the heat.
• Use a spoon to scoop out the contents, do it carefully because you can run the risk of charred skin being scoop up too.
• Serve this gluten naan bread, roti or even brown rice

Other Trinidadian recipes to try

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Baigan Choka (Roasted Eggplant Dip)

This delicious eggplant dip called Baigan Choka can be made on the stovetop or oven and tastes equally as good.

5 from 7 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Appetiser, Breakfast

Cuisine: Trinidadian

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 servings

Calories: 266kcal

Author: Charla

Ingredients

• ▢ 2 eggplant aubergines
• ▢ ¼ a large onion finely sliced
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves sliced lengthways in half
• ▢ pink salt and black pepper to taste
• ▢ 1 scotch bonnet or chilli optional

To Chunkay

• ▢ 2 tablespoon of olive oil
• ▢ 2 garlic cloves chopped
• ▢ ¼ a large onion sliced

Instructions

• Preheat oven at 190C/374F or gas mark 5 and line a baking tray with parchment paper
• Make some small vertical slits about 4cm long all over the entire eggplant./aubergine, be careful not to slice too deep.
• Place 2 garlic slices in each eggplant
• Rub the eggplants and scotch bonnet with 1tbsp of oil before placing on a lined baking tray and transfer to the oven.
• Roast the scotch bonnet until darkened for the first 4-5 minutes then remove, continue to roast the eggplant until it looks limp and thin in size (should take 25 minutes).
• In the mean time, prepare the onions and scotch bonnet in a bowl.
• Once the eggplants have been removed from the oven, allow to cool before slicing length ways to scoop out the flesh into the bowl with the scotch bonnet and some of the onions, pink salt and black pepper.
• Mash everything together until smooth.
• Do the chunkay method by heating up the olive oil in a miniature sized pan with the garlic and onion until golden brown, proceed to pour the hot oil over the pureed mix

Notes

• Be sure to go to the section entitled "open flame method" if you want to follow that method.
• Feel free to serve this recipe with some Gluten Free Roti.
• The heat comes from the use of the whole scotch bonnet with the membrane intact. Omit if you don't care for spiciness or use the skin only.
• Eggplant is also known as aubergine in the UK
• If you are doing the stove top method, it can get messy so lay down some aluminium foil.
• I used an old cooling rack  to roast the eggplant over the heat. 
• Use a spoon to scoop out the contents, do it carefully because you can run the risk of charred skin being scoop up too.
• Serve this gluten naan bread, roti or even brown rice

Nutrition

Calories: 266kcal | Carbohydrates: 34g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Sodium: 158mg | Potassium: 1147mg | Fiber: 15g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 153IU | Vitamin C: 23mg | Calcium: 62mg | Iron: 1mg

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