Aubergine Fritters -- Eggplant Fritters

I visited with my brother and sister-in-law for New Year's Eve, and she'd received a fabulous Italian cookbook for Christmas. So, of course, I had to steal a few recipes. :-)

Italy's 500 Best-Ever Recipes, edited by Jeni Wright, is originally a British publication, so eggplants are called aubergines. Also, they wonderfully include both metric and English conversions of measurements and heating.

While Turks are famous for their eggplant dishes, and truly have some of the best I've ever tasted, the Italians definitely know their way around the eggplant as well. This one is quite delicious. Where noted, (***), I've adapted this recipe to fit with my nutrition guidelines.

A classic antipasto, these simply delicious fritters also make a superb starter or a vegetarian supper dish.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 large aubergine (eggplant), weighing about 675 g / 1 ½ lb, cut into 1 cm / ½ inch thick slices
  
• 30 ml / 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
  
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  
• 60 ml / 4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  
• 130 g / 4 ½ oz / 2 ¼ cups fresh breadcrumbs (***wholegrain)
  
• 90 g / 3 ½ oz / generous 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  
• 90 g / 3 ½ oz / generous 1 cup feta cheese, crumbled
  
• 45 ml / 3 tbsp whole grain spelt flour ***
  
• olive oil, for shallow frying ***
  
• sea salt and ground black pepper

To serve:
natural (plain) yogurt, flavoured with fried red chilies and cumin seeds
lime wedges

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 190ºC / 375ºF / Gas 5. Brush the aubergine slices with the olive oil, then place them on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes, until golden and tender.

2) Chop the aubergine slices finely and place them in a bowl with the egg, garlic, parsley, breadcrumbs, Parmesan and feta. Add salt and pepper to taste, and mix well.

3) Leave the mixture to rest for about 20 minutes. If the mixture looks very sloppy, add more breadcrumbs.

4) Divide the mixture into eight balls and flatten them slightly. Place the flour on a plate and season with salt and pepper. Coat the fritters in the flour, shaking off any excess.

5) Shallow fry the fritters in batches for 1 minute on each side, until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

6) Serve the fritters warm, accompanied with the flavoured yogurt and lime wedges.

Energy 508 Kcal / 2122 kj; Carbohydrate 38.3 g; Fat 31.4 g / Saturated Fat 10.4 g; Fibre 5.1 g

Hunkar Begendi -- Sultan's Delight

My family and I just returned from Turkey where we spent a few weeks touring Istanbul, Ephesus, Pamukkale, and Ankara, visiting family, and eating our way through absolutely delicious Turkish food. I'll post soon some pictures from our trip, but I must post this recipe for Hunkar Begendi, compliments of my siser-in-law, Ummuhan. She made it for us during our visit, and when I tasted it, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. It's the most divine recipe for eggplant I think I've ever tasted. Obviously, a long-dead sultan once thought so too as the English translation for this traditional recipe is usually Sultan's Delight.

I hope you enjoy!


Ingredients:

for the eggplant puree:

• 6 eggplants
  
• 1 tbsp whole grain spelt flour *my revision is for whole grain spelt in place of white flour
  
• 1 tbsp olive oil
  
• 2 tbsp kasar cheese (or hard cheese of your choice)
  
• 1 cup milk
  
• 1 bunch parsley
  
• sea salt, pepper to taste

for the meat kebab:

• 1 kg. cubed meat (lamb or cow)
  
• 2 onions
  
• 2-3 tomatoes
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• sea salt, pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Saute the chopped onion in olive oil until translucent. Add the cubed meat and fry.


2. Add the peeled and chopped tomatoes and continue cooking until soft.


3. Add 2-3 glasses of water to the meat/tomato mixture and cook until the meat is soft. Add salt and pepper. The amount of water in the level should be about 1-1.5 large tablespoons.


4. Grill the eggplants on the stove starting from the eggplants' tips. Then split the skins of the eggplants and chop the eggplant fine. (Or you can roast the eggplants in the oven or on a grill until soft and blackened).


5. Fry the eggplant in the flour with oil until they are pink. Add shredded cheese, milk and cook. Add salt to taste. (NOTE: This is the direction in the book, however, my sister-in-law says that it is better to make the besamel sauce first by browning the flour in the oil, then gradually adding the milk and finally the cheese and salt to taste. Once this sauce is fixed, then you mix it with the eggplant, and warm together. I've tried it both ways, and Ummuhan is, of course, right!)


6. Serve the mashed eggplants over the meat. Garnish with parsley.

This recipe is translated from Bereketli Olsun by Gonul Candas.

Eggplant Salad

This recipe is from my good friend, and fabulous Turkish cook, Umit. She served this when we visited her recently, and it was thoroughly delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium eggplant
  
• 1 small bell pepper (red, green or yellow)
  
• 1 large tomato
  
• 2 small onions
  
• 1/2 bunch parsley
  
• 2 cloves garlic
  
• juice of 1 lemon
  
• 2 Tbs olive oil
  
• salt, pepper

Directions:

Wash the eggplant and prick all over with a fork. Place on a grill and cook evenly by turning occasionally in the oven. When the skin of the eggplant looks quite burnt, test it with fork and make sure the flesh is soft right through.

Let eggplant cool down while preparing the others ingredients. Cut tomato, bell pepper, onion, and parsley into small pieces> Add crushed garlic and mix. Slice the eggplant and add to others. Season with salt pepper, oil and fresh lemon juice.

Eggplant Moussaka -- Patlıcan Musakka

Turks know 101 ways to prepare eggplant, and this is one of the best. I'd recommend soaking the eggplant slices in salt water for about an hour before frying. Also, if you'd like your eggplant to absorb less oil when frying, then first bake the slices in the oven until slightly tender.

The eggplant usually found in Turkey is the smaller, slender Asian variety, thus if you're using the Black Beauty eggplant more commonly found in the US, you'll probably only need 1-2 to reach 2 pounds.

Ingredients:

• 6 medium size (1 kg / 2 pounds) eggplant
  
• 3 ½ tablespoons (50 g) olive oil (absorbed during frying)
  
• 1 ¼ cups (250 g) ground meat
  
• 2 small size (100 g) onions
  
• 2 medium size (250 g) tomatoes
  
• 2 teaspoons (10 g) tomato paste
  
• 2 teaspoons (12 g) sea salt
  
• ¼ teaspoon (0.5 g) freshly ground black pepper
  
• ½ cup (120 g) water
  
• 2-3 sprigs (6 g) parsley

Directions:

Pare eggplants in strips and cut into 1 cm (½ inch) thick slices. Brown lightly in oil in a non-stick pan until lightly browned on both sides. Remove from pan, reserving oil. Layer eggplants in a shallow pan.

Add ground meat and finely chopped onions to oil left in pan; stir. Brown for 8-10 minutes or until meat is crumbly; drain.

Stir in 1 diced tomato, tomato paste, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer for 4-5 minutes. Add water, mixing well. Bring to boil.

Pour mixture over eggplants and spread. Top with sliced tomato. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes (or bake in a moderate oven for 15 minutes) until tender.

Remove from heat. Garnish with parsley leaves before serving. Serve hot.

Makes 6 servings.


Cultural notes:

Patlıcan musakka is a very common dish during the summer months in Turkey. It is usually served as a main dish for lunch or supper with pilaf (rice) and cacık (cucumer/yogurt salad).

In the winter it was traditionally made with dried eggplant.

This recipe is adapted from Samples from Turkish Cuisine.

Fried Eggplant

Eggplant, or aubergine, is probably the favorite vegetable in Turkey. I rarely ate it growing up in the South, but I've developed a passion for it now--especially drizzled with garlic-yogurt sauce.

There are many ways to prepare eggplant to fry, but here's my favorite:

Peel strips of skin off the sides of the eggplant so that it's left in stripes (some skin on and some cut away). Then cut the eggplants into about 1 inch thick slices. Soak the slices in salt-water for about an hour, or omit the water and just sprinkle the slices heavily with salt (which you would then wash off).

Next, I like to layer the slices on a broiler pan and pop them in the oven for a few minutes (around 350 degrees) until tender. That way they don't soak up as much oil when frying.

Heat a skillet (I prefer cast iron) on the stove and add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. After the oil has heated, add your eggplants and fry until golden on both sides (probably about 7-8 mins on each side).

Remove eggplants as they're ready and place on a paper towel to dab up remaining oil. Serve either hot or cold. Spread some Garlic-Yogurt Sauce on them, and enjoy!