Baigun Bhajas ~Eggplant Fritters~
This is favourite in West Bengal, India, and like many Indian dishes has been readily absorbed by Indians from various states. I am sure there's an authentic version, here's my adaptation.
Serves 4
Ingredients
2 large brinjals/eggplants, thinly sliced - horizontally
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon coriander powder, I coarsely crush whole coriander seeds using mortar and pestle
1 teaspoon peppercorns, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon chilly powder or more
1 teaspoon chickpea flour (optional)
oil for frying
Method
1. Mix all the seasoning, and rub well on both sides of the sliced brinjals. Keep aside for 15 minutes.
2. There'll be some liquid in the eggplants so rub in any leftover seasoning and shallow fry on both sides in a medium hot saucepan.
3. Serve hot with a main course - I enjoy eating baigun bhajas with simple rice and dhal.
6 comments:
As you probably know, only like eggplant when it is fire-roasted and made into a choka or dry-curried. I like the flavour of smokiness. The other way I enjoy it is sliced thinly, dipped into a batter of split-peas or toor dal and fried. However, I am always interested in other eggplant recipes... I like your spice mix for this and think that I will add it to my batter the next time.
batter of toor dal is new to me. will try it too. I am a big fan of eggplants, and it takes a terrible lot of efforts for me to dislike it in any form!
for the baigun bhajjas sometimes i also add garlic powder, and minus the chicpea flour. earlier i used to add processed powders that you get in supermarkets, now i ve started loving the textures of coarsely ground coriander seeds and peppercorns. the image i've posted is a bit dated when I'd used fine powders, so you don't really see the grainy texture.
I make eggplant all the time, but this is new to me, these seasonings sound awesome.
LL
Eggplant is not a common veggie in my house at all, but these fritters look mouth watering good.
Nice post Rajani. Makes me feel for baigan now. We have a similar dish called baiganee in which we dip the vertically cut baigan slices in a split peas batter. :-)
This sounds lovely, I love dhal, and eggplant!
What exactly does the chickpea flour do? I may use this in some other recipes in place of flour for a change.
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