bharta

noun

bhar·​ta ˈbər-tə 

variants or less commonly bhartha

ˈbər-tə

or bhurta

ˈbər-tə

: 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

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Hindi bhartā, bhurtā

First Known Use

1891, in the meaning defined above

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