This is my mom’s recipe and is absolutely my favorite way to eat eggplant! Don’t worry about using whole cloves of garlic…this won’t make the eggplant too garlicky since roasted garlic has a nice and mellow flavor.

Ingredients

1 medium eggplant
About 9 to 10 whole cloves of garlic, peeled
2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon of garam masala
1 teaspoon of coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon of cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon of red chili powder

Directions

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees (yup, you read that right). Carve 1 to 2 inch slits all around the eggplant and cut off the front part (with leaves attached). Insert whole garlic cloves into the slits and cover the entire eggplant with aluminim foil. Bake in the oven for 1 to 1.5 hours, until eggplant is soft. Cool the eggplant for about 15 minutes, or until it is cool enough to pick up. Remove the skin and mash the eggplant with garlic in it in microwave safe bowl. Heat olive oil, garam masala, coriander powder, turmeric powder, cumin seeds, mustard seed, and red chili powder on medium-high heat until seeds start to pop. Add to the mashed eggpland and mix together. If the eggplant is cool, microwave for 1 to 2 minutes. Serve hot with rice or rotis.