bharta

noun

bhar·ta | \ ˈbər-tə

variants: or less commonly bhartha \ˈbər-tə

\ or bhurta \ˈbər-tə

Definition of bharta

: an Indian dish of vegetables (such as eggplant and often onion or tomato) that have been cooked usually by roasting and then mashed together with pungent spices Among the vegetables, the … bharta eggplant was beguilingly spiced … —Florence Fabricant, New York Times, 10 May 1981 While many diners visit an Indian restaurant because they crave a lamb vindaloo or an eggplant bharta or another familiar standard, the predictable list of dishes offered locally hardly represents the rich variety of the Indian kitchen. —Robert Shoffner, Washingtonian, November 1994 The eggplant bhartha, cooked down with ginger and garlic into almost a paste, was smooth and musky, to the point that it could be considered more of a dip than a dish. —Sarah Musgrave, The Gazette (Montreal), 7 Jan. 2006 Try the silken eggplant bhurta that is baked over an open flame, then mashed with sautéed onions … —Mimi Sheraton, New York Times, 30 Nov. 1979