Simple, practical, and full of everyday flavour, Instant Pot Aloo Baingan is a Indian entree made with oil, panch phoran mix, and onion tomato masala in about 20 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.

Recipe Snapshot

  • Prep time: 5 minutes
  • Cook time: 15 minutes
  • Total time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 3
  • Category: Entree
  • Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons oil (10 ml, use oil of choice, I used avocado oil)
  • 1 teaspoon panch phoran mix (or use 1 teaspoon cumin seeds)
  • 1/2 cup onion tomato masala (frozen or thawed)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 large potato (325 grams, cut into 1 inch pieces)
  • 1 medium eggplant (425 grams, cut into large pieces, 1 to 1.5 inches)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
  • 1/4 teaspoon garam masala
  • squeeze of fresh lemon juice

Method

  1. Press the saute button on the Instant Pot. Once it displays hot, add oil to the pot and then the panch phoran mix. Let the seeds sizzle & splutter (especially mustard seeds) for few seconds. If you don't have panch phoran, just use 1 teaspoon cumin seeds.
  2. Then add the onion tomato masala (I used frozen straight from the freezer) and 1/2 cup water.
  3. 3- Add the potato, eggplant, cilantro, salt and garam masala in that order. Do not stir. Close the pot with its lid.
  4. Press the manual or pressure cook button and cook on high pressure for 3 minutes. Do a quick pressure release by moving the valve from sealing to venting position.
  5. Open the pot, using a spoon stir the potato and eggplant with all the spices until combined. Add in lemon juice and mix.
  6. Garnish instant pot aloo baingan with more cilantro and serve with roti, rice or paratha!

Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note

Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.