I love cooking with eggplant (or aubergine/brinjal in your specific English flavor).   However to get rid of the bitter taste and slightly spongy texture, I end up using huge amounts of olive oil, which tends to make the dish heavy overall. I've had some success with grilling the eggplant, but for sauté or oven baking I always grab my oil and apply liberally.   Are there any tips/preparations I can use to reduce the bitterness and sponginess of eggplant using less oil? 
One old trick is to cook the aubergine in a pan without adding any fat or water. Just put them in a covered pan on moderate heat. After a while the aubergines will start "sweating". Uncover and continue cooking and stirring until they have lost about half of their volume. Then add oil and proceed as directed by your recipe. You will notice that, since the spongy structure of the aubergine has collapsed, they will absorb much less oil. 