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Spicy and delicious Tandoori eggplant - coated with a tasty and better-for-you Tandoori marinade - featuring Mazola® Corn Oil, spices, and herbs - and then grilled to perfection on a grill pan over the gas flames. And, it’s vegan too. This smoky Tandoori-spiced eggplant is a perfect dish to start with your summer-time grilling. A clinical study showed Mazola Corn Oil reduces cholesterol 2x more than extra virgin olive oil. To learn more about this claim, visit Mazola.com.
Summertime is all about grilling, outdoor fun, and getting together with people. If you love the idea of eating more veggies, then try this easy grilled recipe. The marinade is simple, has only a tablespoon of Mazola® Corn Oil and some ethnic spices. The dark, rich color of the eggplants is all because of the marinade.
Mazola Corn Oil is an all-purpose, cholesterol-free cooking oil that is a smart heart-healthy choice for your family. Variety of uses include baking, grilling, sautéing, stir-frying, or mixing up a marinade or dressing.
This tandoori dish is a spicy grilled eggplant recipe, which can be grilled, baked, broiled or even pan-fried/air-fried.
I am grilling these on a seasoned grill pan, but feel free to add them in skewer and bake or grill them directly on the flames. Eggplants cook really quick; so, keep and an when you directly cook them over the flame.
"Mazola Corn Oil is a heart-healthy* cooking oil and creates marinades that make great-tasting food because it has a neutral taste that lets the natural flavor of your food stand out.
A clinical study showed Mazola Corn Oil reduces cholesterol 2x more than extra virgin olive oil. To learn more about this claim, visit Mazola.com.
This Tandoori eggplant dish is not only delicious but also nutritious. Eggplants are low-carb vegetables and offer a number of plant-based minerals and vitamins. If you have never cooked eggplants at home, here are some tips for you.
Selecting Eggplants for Tandoori Eggplant:
- Always looks for eggplants with smooth, shiny skin.
- To test for ripeness, just press a finger against the eggplant skin lightly and it should leave an imprint. This means the eggplant is ripe.
- Choose eggplants that are pointy at the end. These eggplants tend to be sweeter, and have fewer seeds.
Cutting Eggplants:
- If you are not broiling eggplants, you don’t really need to remove their skin after cooking.
- Just cut the eggplants into chunks, slices or any how you want.
- Always soak eggplants in water or slather them in marinade to avoid blackening of the flesh.
- A basic salt rub helps eggplant to lose some moisture and bitterness. That means, this is an essential step.
Cooking with Eggplants:
Eggplants are versatile vegetables. This vegetable is perfect for grilling, sautéing, roasting, curries, dips and even works in lentil-based recipes like this instant pot sambar.
Tandoori Eggplant Recipe:
How To Make Tandoori Eggplant?
Here are the ingredients to make this tandoori eggplant dish.
Ingredients:
1 large eggplant cut into cubes or slices (approx 1 lb), 1 teaspoon turmeric powder, Salt to taste
Tandoori Marinade:
1 tablespoon Mazola® Corn Oil and more to brush the pan, 2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste(freshly ground), 1 teaspoon paprika ground. ½ teaspoon ground cayenne (more If you enjoy hot dishes), 1 teaspoon curry powder, ½ teaspoon garam masala, 1 tablespoon tomato paste, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon lime juice (optional), Salt to taste
Skewers:
½ cup Cubes of Red, green and yellow peppers, 2 cups eggplant cubes, ¼ cup tandoori marinade
To Serve:
Cucumbers, Lettuce, Mint yogurt chutney
Method:
Cut the eggplant into spices or cubes. Rub the pieces or slices with salt and turmeric and set aside for 10-minutes.
- Prepare the marinade and combining all spices and then adding Mazola® Corn Oil first. Mix it well and then add rest all ingredients. The marinade should look thick yet liquid-like.
- Heat a seasoned cast iron grill pan.
- Slather both the sides of the eggplant slices with the tandoori marinade and place them on the grill pan.
- Cook the slices under medium to high flame until each side has nice grill marks and eggplants are tender yet not super-soft.
- Serve these tandoori eggplant steaks with salad and mint raita.
- For tandoori skewers, marinate the cubes in ½-1/3 cup of the marinade. Now grill them on a grill pan for 1-2 minutes on each side. This step ensures that eggplants are fully cooked when grilled with the skewer.
- Place eggplant cubes with onions and peppers in a skewer.
- Grill them directly over the flame or charcoal grill while brushing with the Mazola® Corn Oil or cook them on a seasoned cast iron pan.
- Serve these warm with mint raita and chutney.
- Enjoy!
📖 Recipe
Tandoori Eggplant
Equipment
- Grill pan
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant cut into cubes or slices, approx 1 lb
- 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
- Salt to taste
Tandoori Marinade
- 1 tablespoon Mazola® Corn Oil and more to brush the pan
- 2 tablespoon ginger garlic paste, freshly ground
- 1 teaspoon paprika ground. ½ teaspoon ground cayenne, more If you enjoy hot dishes
- 1 teaspoon curry powder
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon lime juice, optional
- Salt to taste
Skewer Tandoori Eggplants
- ½ cup Cubes of Red, green and yellow peppers
- 2 cups eggplant cubes
- ¼ cup tandoori marinade
To Serve
- Cucumbers, Lettuce, Mint yogurt chutney
Instructions
- Cut the eggplant into spices or cubes. Rub the pieces or slices with salt and turmeric and set aside for 10-minutes.
- Prepare the marinade and combining all spices and then adding Mazola® Corn Oil first. Mix it well and then add rest all ingredients. The marinade should look thick yet liquid-like.
- Heat a seasoned cast iron grill pan and brush it with Mazola® Corn Oil.
- Slather both the sides of the eggplant slices with the tandoori marinade and place them on the grill pan.
- Cook the slices under medium to high flame until each side has nice grill marks and eggplants are tender yet not super-soft.
- Serve these tandoori eggplant steaks with salad and mint raita.
- For tandoori skewers, marinate the cubes in ½-1/3 cup of the marinade. Now grill them on a grill pan for 1-2 minutes on each side. This step ensures that eggplants are fully cooked when grilled with the skewer.
- Place eggplant cubes with onions and peppers in a skewer.
- Grill them directly over the flame or charcoal grill while brushing with the Mazola® Corn Oil or cook them on a seasoned cast iron pan.
- Serve these warm with mint raita and chutney.
- Enjoy!
Notes
Instant Pot Grilling W/ CrispLid:
- Preheat the Crisplid at 350F for 7-minutes.
- Meanwhile, line the inner pot of your IP with parchment paper or aluminum foil. This will help to catch the drip from the eggplant slices while grilling on the CrispLid basket.
- Brush the inner basket with Mazola® Corn Oil and place the eggplant slices. Set the timer for 8-minutes to cook the eggplant slices.
- If your eggplant slices are thin, cook them for 5-minutes.
- After the cooking time, flip them and cook again for 3-5 minutes depending on the desired doneness you want. I like tender yet not very soft eggplants, so a total time of 8+5 minutes work for me since my eggplants are sliced really thick.
- After grilling, serve them with mint raita and salads.
Air-Fryer Grilling:
- Preheat the air-fryer at 350F for 5-minutes.
- Meanwhile, line the air-fryer racks with parchment paper or aluminum foil. This will help to catch the drip from the eggplant slices while grilling .
- Spray the lined racks with Mazola® Corn Oil and place the eggplant slices. Set the timer for 6-minutes to cook the eggplant slices.
- If your eggplant slices are thin, cook them for 4-minutes.
- After the cooking time, flip them and cook again for 3-5 minutes depending on the desired doneness you want. I like tender yet not very soft eggplants, so a total time of 10 minutes work for me since my eggplants are sliced really thick.
- After grilling, serve them with mint raita and salads.
Nutrition
*see Mazola.com for more information on the relationship between corn oil and heart health.
Patty at Spoonabilities
What a great alternative for the grill this summer, especially for vegetarian friends! I never thought of using eggplant as a "steak" and can't wait to try this out. Love the skewers too!
Cathleen @ A Taste of Madness
My husband doesn't like eggplant, so more for me, right?? But to be honest, this looks so good I am sure he would like it prepared this way. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Biana
I love the marinade and grilled eggplant! What a great idea for eating veggies in the summer.
Traci
Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetables and the tandoori marinade has so much flavor! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Kushigalu
Love tandoori flavors. This one looks fantastic. Pinned!
Justin
Yeah um don’t use corn oil. In fact never use corn oil. Olive oil is better or if you want to go traditional tandoori use Ghee.