Spicy Fried Eggplant - Baingan (or Begun) Bhaja

Here is my take on a classic Bengali treatment for eggplant. The eggplant is sliced, marinated in a spice paste, then coated in flour and fried. As usual I looked at a lot of recipes, picked the features I liked from each, and adapted for the fact that I can't get certain ingredients easily. I was pretty pleased with the results and we both enjoyed this very much.

This is rich enough to be a vegetarian main course, served with rice or Naan, or it will work well as one of 2 or 3 dishes (or more) comprising a fancier Indian-style meal.

While the salting and draining of the eggplant, followed by the marinating period makes it quite slow, this was really very easy to do and the actual work is divided up into 3 sessions of about 10 minutes each.

2 to 4 servings
1 1/2 hours - 30 minutes prep time

Salt & Drain the Eggplant:
1 medium eggplant (300 grams; 10 ounces)
salt

Wash and trim the eggplant, and cut it into slices about 1/4" thick. Peel off the skin from the side slices, as much as possible, and maybe trim them a bit to make them reasonably flat. Salt them generously and layer them on a plate. Set another plate on top, weight the plate, and let them sit for about half an hour.

Rinse off the eggplant slices and gently squeeze and pat them dry. This will draw off any bitter juices, and help speed up the cooking process.

Make the Spice Paste:
1 teaspoon coriander seeds, ground
1/8 to 1 teaspoon Aleppo or other hot ground chile
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 or 3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons apple butter
2 tablespoons mild vegetable oil

Grind the coriander seeds and mix them in a small mixing bowl with the chile powder, turmeric, salt, and ginger. Peel and mince the garlic and add it, along with the apple butter and vegetable oil. Mix thoroughly.

When the eggplant is ready, stab each piece all over with a fork, on both sides. Spread the paste evenly over the slices, on both sides.

Fry the Eggplant:
about 1 cup chick pea flour
about 1/2 cup mild vegetable oil to fry
a good handful parsley or cilantro to garnish

As you finish spreading the spice paste on each slice, lay it on a plate generously sprinkled with chick pea flour. Sprinkle chick pea flour between each layer as you stack them up; the eggplant slices should be thinly but completely dredged in the chick pea flour.

When the are all done, let them rest for about half an hour.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil - enough to generously cover the bottom of the skillet - in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once it is hot, lay in as many of the prepared eggplant slices as you can while still having room to turn them. Fry for 2 or 3 minutes per side, until well browned. Add a little more oil to the pan as needed, generally when the slices need to be turned or new ones are being added. Put the finished slices on a plate and keep them warm in a 200°F oven until they are all done. Garnish with chopped parsley or cilantro and serve hot.

Posted in: Ontario Food