Vegan Curry Eggplant and Potato (Baigan & Aloo)

June 2, 2025January 8, 2025Leave a Comment

This dish is a staple in many Caribbean households, combining the creamy texture of eggplant with the hearty bite of potatoes. Seasoned with a blend of spices and herbs, it’s a flavorful and satisfying meal that’s perfect for any day of the week.

Eggplant and potato dish in a pan on the stove with a wooden spoon resting on top

Ingredient Guide

Eggplant (Baigan): A versatile vegetable that absorbs flavors well. When cooked, it becomes tender and adds a creamy texture to the dish.
Potato (Aloo): Adds heartiness and balances the softness of the eggplant. Choose a starchy variety for the best texture.
Caribbean Green Seasoning: A blend of herbs and spices including scallions, thyme, garlic, and parsley. Adds depth and authentic Caribbean flavor.
Pimento Pepper: Also known as seasoning pepper, it provides a mild heat and fruity flavor.
Habanero Pepper: A fiery chili pepper common in Caribbean cuisine. Use with caution, and remove seeds to reduce heat.
Ginger: Adds a warm, spicy note that complements the other flavors.

Shopping Made Easy

Eggplant: Available at most grocery stores. Look for firm, glossy skin.
Potatoes: Common in all supermarkets. Yukon Gold or Russet varieties work well.
Caribbean Green Seasoning: Often sold pre-made in Caribbean markets, or make your own using fresh herbs.
Pimento and Habanero Peppers: Found in the produce section of Caribbean or Latin grocery stores.
Ginger: Available in the produce section. Choose firm roots with smooth skin.

Cooking Notes from the Kitchen

Peeling Eggplant: You can choose to peel the eggplant or leave the skin on for added texture.
Heat Level: Adjust the amount of habanero pepper to control the spiciness of the dish.
Cooking Time: Allow the dish to simmer until the potatoes are tender and the eggplant has broken down, creating a thick sauce.
Serving Suggestion: This dish pairs wonderfully with hot Sada Roti or steamed white rice.

What can I use as a substitute for Caribbean Green Seasoning?

If you can’t find Caribbean Green Seasoning, you can make your own by blending scallions, thyme, garlic, parsley, and a bit of vinegar.

How spicy is this dish?

The heat level depends on the amount of habanero pepper used. For a milder dish, use less pepper or remove the seeds.

Can I add other vegetables to this dish?

Yes, you can add other vegetables, like bell peppers or tomatoes, to enhance the flavor and nutritional value.

Is this dish suitable for freezing?

Yes, this dish freezes well. Store in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Reheat thoroughly before serving.

Gluten Free Seafood

Eggplant With Potato (baigan and aloo) And Shrimp Recipe.

January 14, 2018January 14, 2018Leave a Comment

Baigan and Aloo (eggplant cooked with potato) was one of my favorite things to eat as a kid growing up on the islands.. except when mom would put saltfish (salted cod) in it. According to her (my adult self agrees 100%) makes it more ‘sweet’ (tasty) and though mom never made this dish with shrimp, it’s now one of my go-to recipes when I’m homesick. Granted it’s not a ‘pretty’ dish, but I assure it you’ll fall in love with it.

You’ll Need…

2 medium eggplant (peeled and cubed)
1 lb shrimp (16-20) * Smaller will work best
1 teaspoon Caribbean Green Seasoning
4 cloves garlic (smashed)
1/2 medium onion (diced)
2 Birds Eye Pepper (optional)
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
4-6 small potatoes (cubed)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil (divided)
1 teaspoon salt (divided)
1/2 teaspoon curry powder
1 1/2 cups water
6-8 cherry tomatoes (optional)
1 tablespoon Parsley (chopped)

IMPORTANT! If doing this recipe gluten free, please go though the entire list of ingredients to ensure they meet with your specific gluten free dietary needs. Especially the curry powder you choose to use as there are some brands which use flour in their curry as a filler. Also note that while we did season the shrimp with a tiny bit of curry powder, technically this is NOT curry baigan wand aloo.

Peel and cube the eggplant and potato and set aside (keep the eggplant/potato in water to prevent it from going discolored) Season the washed (peeled and deveined) shrimp with the curry powder, black pepper, 1/4 of the salt and the Caribbean Green Seasoning.. mix well. Then heat 1 tablespoon of veg oil in a wide saucepan on a medium heat.

Toss in the seasoned shrimp, stir well and cook for 1- 1.5 minutes, then remove and set aside for later. In the same pot add the renaming tablespoon of vegetable oil and go in with the onion. Cook on low for 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic along with the Bird’s Eye pepper and cook on low for a further minute.

Unless you want the dish spicy (like I do) try not to break the peppers or you will release it’s fury. After which it’s time to add the cubed potato followed by the eggplant.

Turn up the heat to medium high, stir well to pick up the shrimp flavor from the start, then go in with the water and bring to a boil. When it comes to a boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, add the remaining salt and cover the pot. After 20 minutes, crank up the heat to medium and put the lid slightly ajar. We’re trying to burn off most of the liquid while making the potato tender and fully cook the eggplant.

After 5 minutes or so you can now remove the lid completely, add the tomatoes and parsley, stir and taste for salt. Adjust to your liking.. as mentioned in the video, I’m trying to cut back on the amount of salt I use. Finally it’s time to add the precooked shrimp to the pot, stir well and turn off the stove / cover the pot. Let the residual heat finish cooking the shrimp fully. Remove the peppers at the point if you wish.

If you find that you have too much liquid near the end, you can use the back of your spoon to crush a few pieces f the potato. Do keep in mind that this dish will thicken as it cools. I ate mine with hot roti, so I needed a little gravy.. so it may look a bit runny in the picture.

Do you own a copy of my cookbook ?- The Vibrant Caribbean Pot 100 Traditional And Fusion recipes Vol 2

Meat & Poultry

Eggplant Cooked With Leftover Stewed Pork.

May 27, 2025May 11, 20124 Comments

Here’s another dish where the main flavor is heavily influenced by leftovers (food is never wasted in the Caribbean?). There are many variations of this eggplant recipe, but this time we’ll be using left over stewed pork to add another level of flavor and make it more exciting for our taste buds. Hot sada roti or rice is boss with this, but this day I had it with some buss up shut roti I had in the freezer. Tip: If you ever have extra roti (doesn’t work well for sada roti)or if you go to the the local Caribbean restaurant… purchase extra roti. Simply place them in freezer-proof bags and stick them in the freezer. I have roti for months in our freezer and when I’m peckish.. in the microwave and I’m set.

You’ll Need…

2 lb eggplant
3 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 large onion
dash black pepper
1 cup water
1 large potato
1/4 scotch bonnet pepper (anything for a bit of kick)
2 tablespoon veg oil
leftover stewed pork (I had about 2 cups)

Notes: This dish is just as good without the pork. You can also use leftover stewed chicken or beef and adding some bits of salted cod, works well also. This eggplant dish is also known as “baigan and aloo” – eggplant and potato and can be cooked as a curry dish. There are a few versions of this eggplant recipe posted here, in the event you’re interested.

The first thing we need to to do is peel and chop the (wash) eggplant and the other ingredients. You can always refer to the video below to follow along. Using a sharp pairing knife (you can use a potato peeler also) trim off the stem, peel the eggplant, then cut into cubes about 1 inch or so. I’ve seen this recipe done with the skin on, so the choice is yours. Also peel and cube the potato and chop the scotch bonnet pepper, garlic and onion. This way we’re fully prepped!

Heat a deep saucepan on med/high heat and add the vegetable oil (a good option would be olive oil if you have no plans of adding meat to this dish – excellent flavor from that olive oil), then add the sliced onion and garlic. Turn your heat down as we want to slowly cook the onion/garlic for a 3 minutes, to release it’s flavor. After 3 minutes, turn the heat back up to med/high and add the scotch bonnet pepper and cubed eggplant. Give it a good stir, then add the salt and black pepper..stir. Now add the cubed potato and water and bring to a boil.

With the lid on the pot it should take a couple mins to come to a boil. As it comes to a boil, turn your heat down to a gentle simmer (lid on) and cook for 20 minutes. You will notice the eggplant will discolor and start melting down. That’s cool.. just remember to stir.

The eggplant will sprout it’s own juices, so with this and the water we added, there will be enough liquid to fully cook both the eggplant and potato. After 20 mins, add the pieces of stewed pork and give it a good stir. You will have a bit of liquid, so remove the lid and cook for about 5-7 minutes until is nice and thick. The dish is supposed to be mushy and to be honest.. not as attractive as other dishes I’ve shared.

Taste for salt as you’re tolerance for salt will be different than mine.. adjust and enjoy!

I urge you to give this eggplant recipe a try as many of us don’t give eggplant a fair chance and it’s quite tasty. That lovey sort of smokey undertones, spiced up with the scotch bonnet pepper and how could one miss the stewed pork.. Excellente! Below I’ve also included a video showing how simple it is to shop for the perfect eggplant. Do remember to leave your comments below.

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Meat & Poultry Vegetarian

Eggplant With Potatoes A Classic Vegetarian Dish.

May 27, 2025August 22, 201114 Comments

baigan and aloo recipe

Similar to the original curry baigan and aloo recipe I shared with you guys back in 2009 (time really flies), this one is very flexible and can work as a vegetarian meal or you can add left over stewed meats or pieces of salted cod and take it to another level. With the strong East Indian influence in our culinary traditions, you’ll find than many of the vegetables and ways of cooking is directly related to that connection. This is why you’ll see from time to time I mention names of things you won’t necessarily be familiar with, but I do try to clear things up on such occasions. Baigan is just another word for eggplant and aloo is basically potato. So don’t be surprised to see this dish refereed to as baigan and aloo in some Trinbago restaurants.

You’ll Need…
1 lb Japanese eggplant (or your fav)
2-3 cloves garlic sliced or crushed
1/4 scotch bonnet or habanero pepper (any hot pepper you like)
1/2 large onion diced
1 large potato cubed -chunky
1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil (or vegetable)
dash black pepper
1/2 cup water
1/4 teaspoon salt

* As with the ingredients listed above, this is a vegetarian dish but I had some left over stewed chicken which I added the last 5 minutes of cooking to enhance the flavor a bit (this is optional). The stewed chicken recipe can be found at: Ultimate Trinbagonian Stew Chicken.

We’ll start by prepping all the ingredients. Peel and dice the onion, slice the pepper and crush or slice very thin the garlic. I decided to leave the skin on a couple of the eggplant for a bit of texture and to get some of that unique sweetness that Japanese eggplant seems to have. The other two I peeled. I then cut off the stems and cut each eggplant into three sections (length) to which I then cut strips, similar to if I were making fries. Finally I peeled, washed and cubed (in chunks) the potato. I used a Yukon Gold variety as I just love the sort of creamy texture of it. But you’re free to use any variety of potato you may have.

baigan and aloo recipe (2)

baigan and aloo recipe (3)

On a medium/high heat I heat the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the pieces of sliced (or crushed) garlic and allow that to cook for a couple minutes. You should start getting that wonderful garlic scent and the edges should start going golden. Now add the pieces of eggplant, then top with the onion, pepper, salt, black pepper and potato. Give it a good stir, then add the water. Bring it up to a boil, then lower te heat to a gentle simmer and allow to cook for about 25 minutes with the saucepan covered. Be sure to stir every 7 minutes or so.

baigan and aloo recipe (4)

baigan and aloo recipe (5)

baigan and aloo recipe (6)

You will find that it will start to melt away and turn into a sort of mushy texture… this is exactly what we’re looking for. After 25 minutes, the eggplant and potato should be tender and this is a good time to add any leftover meats you may want to add. If you plan on adding salted cod to this dish, I would add it after adding the garlic and allow it to cook for a couple minutes before adding everything else. If you’re keeping this dish strictly vegetarian, after 25 minutes if you have a lot of liquid left in the pan, turn up the heat and cook it off. You should not se any clear liquid in the finished dish.

If you did add pieces of left over stewed chicken as I did, turn up the heat after adding and cook until any liquid burns off.. usually about 3-5 minutes. Taste for salt as I’m sure your taste is different than mine. Add accordingly.

baigan and aloo recipe (7)

baigan and aloo recipe (8)

baigan and aloo recipe (10)

baigan and aloo recipe (11)

This goes well with Sada Roti and should be enough for 4-5 people as a side. I was at my sisters restaurant a while back and was quite surprised at how many people came in especially for this… but without any meat and curried as I shared in the previous recipe.

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Vegetarian

Curry eggplant with potato (curry baigan and aloo).

March 5, 2012August 26, 200921 Comments

eggplant curry Here’s another one of the dishes my mom would prepare when we were kids which we refused to eat. Her way of getting us to eat it was to cook it without the curry and add leftover stew chicken, pork or beef near the end of the cooking process. Today when she visits I get her to make it several ways.. curry, without curry and I still love adding leftover stewed meats. My dad, the saltfish king that he is only likes this if there’s pieces of salted cod added near the end. According to him, this is the ONLY way this dish should be made.

This version is completely vegetarian, but feel free to add any leftover stewed (Caribbean style) meats you may have in your fridge. Also remember that if you’re looking for a truly unique twist to this, do as my dad would recommend and add some strips of dry salted fish. All you’ll have to do is soak the dried saltfish in hot water, then drain/rinse, shred and add to the pot about 5 minutes at the end of cooking.

You’ll need…
1 eggplant (baigan) about 1-2 lbs – peeled and cubed
1 small onion diced
2 cloves crushed
3 tablespoons water
3 small potatoes cubed
1 tablespoon madras curry powder
1 1/2 tablespoon oil
1/4 teaspoon green seasoning (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash black pepper
1/4 hot pepper (habanero, scotch bonnet or chilli)

* I”ve also seen people prepare this dish without peeling the eggplant. Personally I find that the skin causes the finished dish to be over-powered with the flavour of the eggplant.

Start off by peeling and dicing the eggplant and potato into cubes (set aside in a bowl). Then peel and slice the onion, pepper and crush the garlic.

baigan and alloo

curry baigan

curry potato with eggplant recipe

eggplant recipe

Pour the oil in a fairly deep saucepan and heat on medium to high heat. When the oil is hot add the curry powder and stir for about 3 minutes, then add the onion, garlic and hot pepper. Allow this to cook for another couple minutes, then add about 3 tablespoons of water and using a spoon try to scrape the pot so the bit of cooked curry will release from the bottom of the pan. When this dries back down (see image below) start adding the cubed eggplant, potato, salt and black pepper (add the green seasoning mix at this point as well – optional). Then reduce to the lowest setting on your stove with the pot covered. Stir occasionally and keep an eye on things. It will release some natural juices which should be enough for it to cook without burning, but if you notice that it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, it means that your heat may still be a bit too high… add a few tablespoons of water and place the pot on a smaller burner where the heat will be lower.

Allow this to cook for about 25 minutes or until the potato is fully cooked and the eggplant starts to dissolve and marry with the potato. Though not the prettiest looking dish, it’s packed with flavour and quite tasty when paired with roti, fry bake or any type of flat bread you may have.

curry baigan and alloo

curry eggplant

curry eggplant recipe

baigan with potato curry

eggplant with potato recipe

potato with eggplant curry

eggplant curry

curry potato eggplant

trini baigan and alloo

I believe the word “baigan” is Indian in origin and it made it’s way to the Caribbean with the indentured workers that came to the Caribbean in the 1800’s. Do leave me your comments below.

Happy Cooking!

baigan and aloo