Borani Banjan
The Afghan eggplant side: aubergine slices fried silky-soft, layered with a tomato-onion sauce and topped with garlicky strained yogurt and dried mint.
Overview
Borani banjan is an Afghan aubergine dish that does the same work as a moussaka or a melitzanosalata: pan-fried aubergine slices, a quick spiced tomato sauce, and a generous lid of garlic-and-mint yogurt that bridges all the warm and cold elements. The aubergine slices salt and sweat for half an hour first (which keeps them from drinking too much oil) before they fry hard in olive oil until golden and silky. Onion and tomato cook to a quick sauce with turmeric and a kick of chilli. The aubergine and sauce layer in a wide dish, then the chaka (yogurt whisked with garlic and salt) spoons over the whole thing while it is still warm. Scatter dried mint and drizzle olive oil to finish. Eat warm or at room temperature, with bread.
Ingredients
- 2 aubergines (large, cut into 1 ½ cm rounds)
- 1 tablespoon salt (for sweating)
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil (for frying)
- 1 onion (medium, finely chopped)
- 4 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 2 fresh tomatoes (chopped) or 200 ml passata
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt (for the sauce)
Chaka (garlic yogurt)
- 300 g strained Greek yogurt
- 2 garlic cloves (crushed to a paste with ¼ tsp salt)
To finish
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Method
Stage 1 - Salt the aubergine
- Lay slices on a wire rack; sprinkle both sides with salt.
- Leave 30 minutes; pat dry with kitchen paper.
Stage 2 - Fry
- Heat 3 tablespoons of the oil in a wide pan over medium-high.
- Fry aubergine slices in batches, 3-4 minutes per side, until deeply golden and soft.
- Add a fresh tablespoon of oil between batches.
- Lift onto kitchen paper.
Stage 3 - Sauce
- In the same pan, soften the onion 6 minutes.
- Add garlic; cook 30 seconds.
- Add tomato, turmeric, chilli, coriander, pepper, salt; reduce 5 minutes to a jammy sauce.
Stage 4 - Chaka
- Whisk yogurt with the garlic-salt paste to a smooth thick sauce.
Stage 5 - Assemble
- In a wide shallow dish, lay half the eggplant; spoon over half the tomato sauce.
- Layer the rest of the eggplant; spoon the remaining tomato sauce on top.
- Dollop the chaka generously over the surface - don't smooth out; the contrast of cold yogurt and warm sauce is the point.
Stage 6 - Finish
- Sprinkle dried mint; drizzle olive oil.
Stage 7 - Serve
- Eat warm or at room temperature with naan or alongside lamb karahi.
Notes
- Salt before frying: Skip this and the aubergine drinks oil and turns soggy. The salt draws out water.
- Cold yogurt on warm eggplant: The temperature contrast is signature. Don't reheat the assembled dish - make the chaka fresh.
- Dried mint not fresh: Dried mint has a deeper, more pungent quality that works with yogurt. Fresh mint over the top is decorative.
Storage
- Components keep 3 days separately.
- Assembled dish best eaten same day; the yogurt loosens and the eggplant softens further on standing.
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