Organic Baigan + Tomato Choka

What's "choka"?! Sounds weird, right? But it's oh-so-yummy! It's a really popular way of preparing dishes in Trinidad.  Its roots stem from the Bihar state in India. Basically you roast whatever veggie you are using, scoop out the innards, add onions and pepper, then fry garlic cloves in oil and add it to the dish.  The frying of the garlic is the part that makes it a "choka" and adds a distinct smokey flavor to the veggies.  Choka is usually eaten with roti (Indian bread), but since we weren't heavy roti-eaters in our house when I was a kid (Dad was Bangladeshi, so we always ate rice.) we would eat choka with sliced bread.

Trinis are very intense about their chokas. They take it very seriously! Warning...my version is not 100% traditional. It can be a very messy and time-consuming dish. I wish I was the type of girl who could cook for hours upon hours and make super complex dishes, but I'm not. I like easy and quick dishes. For one, I "roast" my baigan (eggplant) and tomatoes in the microwave instead of on the stove-top or in the oven.  Another variation of mine (not necessarily time consuming), is that I saute the onions before combining everything else.  Choka can sometimes be made by adding raw onions to the final dish. The raw onions tend to give me a little heartburn, so I cook them first. Also, like I said before, I eat this with sliced bread..usually some sort of sprouted, whole-grain bread.  I rarely ever make roti because I'm still a rice-girl and my husband isn't too nuts over roti either. And since I'm an organic junkie, I used only organic ingredients in my recipe. Oh, and some people will also add cilantro or culantro to tomato choka, but I prefer it without.


Baigan Choka

Ingredients:
-2 small eggplants (or 1 large eggplant)
-1/4 large onion cut into thin slices
-2 cloves garlic, smashed
-1 slice of habanero or scotch bonnet pepper (add more or leave out per your liking)
-2 tbsp olive oil
-salt
-black pepper

Directions:
-Place eggplant onto microwave-safe plate and stab (for lack of a better word) slits into the top of the eggplant. This keeps the eggplant from exploding all over your microwave!
-Microwave eggplant until it shrivels up. I microwaved mine for about 15 minutes, but kept an eye on it so it didn't dry out or burn.
-Remove plate from microwave (careful, it will be hot!). Cut a "T" into the top of the eggplant to expose the insides.

The eggplant after microwaving it

-Scoop out the inner part into a separate bowl, leaving the skin behind.

-On medium heat, add some olive oil (about 1 tbsp) to frying pain and heat.
-Add onion slices and saute for 1-2 minutes until translucent.
-Add pepper slices and saute for another 2 minutes until onions are soft (but not browned)
-Remove from heat and add eggplant innards. Season with salt and black pepper and mix well.

2 ways to do this next part...the part that makes this a choka...frying the garlic: the traditional/risky way and the modern/safe way. I opted to live dangerously and chose the traditional way.

-Traditional way: In a metal ladle (stainless steel works well!), add 2 tbsp oil and garlic cloves. Place the ladle over medium heat (just rest the bottom of the ladle onto the burner). Allow the garlic to brown in the oil. Be very careful to not spill the oil or drop the ladle! Do not stir or try to mix the garlic in the oil...just let it sit and brown. After the garlic has browned to a golden brown color, remove from heat and add the oil and garlic to frying pan with cooked eggplant. Mix well and enjoy!

You want the garlic to brown even more than this.

-Modern way: In a small frying pan, add 2 tablespoons oil and garlic cloves. Heat over medium heat until garlic has browned to a golden brown color. Remove from heat an add oil and garlic to cooked eggplant. Mix well and enjoy!

Serves 4


Tomato Choka:

This is pretty much made the same way as baigan choka, except you are using tomatoes.

Ingredients:
-4 med-large tomatoes
-1/4 large onion cut into thin slices
-2 cloves garlic, smashed
-1 slice of habanero or scotch bonnet pepper (add more or leave out per your liking)
-2 tbsp olive oil
-salt
-black pepper

Directions:
-Place tomatoes onto microwave-safe plate. Stab holes into the top of the tomatoes with a knife to prevent from messy microwave explosion.

-Microwave tomatoes for about 5-10 minutes until tomatoes are soft and shriveled. (Tomatoes do not take very long to soften in the microwave so really keep an eye on them.)
-Remove from microwave...be careful! It will be hot!

Tomatoes can get pretty messy in the microwave

-Remove tomato skin and scoop the insides into a separate bowl.

-On medium heat, add some olive oil (about 1 tbsp) to frying pain and heat.
-Add onion slices and saute for 1-2 minutes until translucent.
-Add pepper slices and saute for another 2 minutes until onions are soft (but not browned)
-Remove from heat and add tomato innards. Season with salt and black pepper and mix well.
-Heat oil and garlic cloves in either a ladle or frying pan (as described above) on medium heat until cloves are golden brown.
-Add oil and garlic to cooked tomatoes.
-Mix well and enjoy!
Serves 4

Choka heaven!