Indian Eggplants... Again

Though I have featured this same recipe before, the Indian lunch I made today was picturesque enough to make it to the blog.

From left to right: rasam soup, a plate of sliced tindoras, chiles, cilantro and lime pickle, date chutney, eggplants, and parathas.

I was inspired to make pseudo-Indian after a vegan/vegetarian dinner at Arya Bhavan on Chicago's Devon strip. It wasn't the best Indian food I've ever had, but every menu item has a vegan alternative (unusual for a cuisine which is heavy on the ghee).

The best thing about South Indian: lots of cute little bowls.

After a trip to a nearby grocery in which Indian eggplants abounded, I decided to re-make the dish I featured back in May: fried eggplants with onion-date chutney, served with parathas and homemade rasaam soup.

Indian eggplants at the grocery.

Indian eggplants in my kitchen.

Sous-chef Josh fries eggplants coated in spiced chickpea flour.

One largish YUM.

Fab Four, Episode 1: Indian eggplants with date chutney

(See previous entry, “Fab Four,” for the premise of the next four entries.)

 My first recipe will feature the wee little Indian eggplant. These eggplants have a naturally sweet, fresh taste and they cook quickly to the ideal state of mushiness. This improvised recipe worked well, the only shortcoming being that it was rather oily. Try coating the pan with a thin layer of oil, rather than frying in steeper oil as I did... in the meantime, I’ll continue to experiment with ways of making these eggplants less greasy. The flavors, however, were delicious. ("Were," past-tense, because I ate them all.)

I should mention that the onion date chutney is inspired by a near-identical dish served at Marigold, a Chicago modern Indian eatery. Mine is tastier, however, due to the addition of more salt and several hefty squeezes of lime.

The final result.

Recipe #1.  Fried Indian Eggplants with Raita and Onion Date Chutney

Appetizer, serves 2 – be sure to double or triple the recipe unless cooking for self or romantic candlelight dinner

Ingredients

4 Indian eggplants

1/4-1/8 c chickpea flour (can substitute wheat flour if desired)

pinch of salt

turmeric, paprika, cumin, coriander

1/2 c plain yogurt

Some carrot

Some cucumber

ca. 15 pitted dates

1 vidalia onion

crushed red pepper

1 lime

olive oil

peanut, corn or canola oil for frying

Eggplants

Remove the leafy flaps from 4 Indian eggplants, leaving the stems attached. Trim stems down to a stub.

Combine chickpea flour with salt, turmeric, paprika, and cumin. 

Moisten the surface of each eggplant and dip face-down into flour. Pour a nice-sized pool of frying oil in pan and heat on medium-high. Fry eggplants face-down in oil until browned, then turn and cook other side; the eggplants should cook very quickly. Remove from oil and place on paper towel to soak excess grease.

Raita

Mix yogurt with shredded or chopped carrot and cucumber, coriander, and salt to taste.

Onion Date Chutney, the highlight of this dish in my opinion

Note: this recipe makes a LOT of chutney, enough to feed a whole family of chutney gnomes.Try halving or even quartering the recipe if you don’t anticipate spreading chutney on your toast for the next two weeks.

Coarsely chop vidalia onion and sauté in olive oil until caramel-brown. 

Add ca. 15 dates, 1/2 cup water, a good dash of crushed red pepper flakes and paprika. 

Simmer on low-medium for about 10 minutes, adding water to avoid burning. Add salt to taste.

 Place stewed mixture in food processor and squeeze in the juice of 1 lime. Purée until smooth.

The resultant combination is great as an appetizer, or could be coupled with a bowl of rasam soup, roti and some salad for an Indian lunch. 

Rasam, eggplant and red pepper relish, yogurt, lime pickle, cucumber
and greens salad -- all possible companions to fried eggplants with chutney and raita.