Crispy but soft pan fried brinjal/aubergine coins for tea-time
Ingredients
1 eggplant or big brinjal/aubergine
¼ Cup rice flour/akki hittu
1 Tbsp fine semolina/fine sooji/chiroti rava
½ Tsp red chilli powder
½ Tsp turmeric
1 pinch hing/asafoetida/ingu
½ Tsp salt or to taste
½ Tsp sugar
¼ Tsp carom seeds/ajwain/om kaalu
½ Tsp jeera
Few torn curry leaves
Juice of ½ lime/lemon
Method
In a bowl add the rice flour
Add fine sooji to it
Add haldi, red chilli powder and hing. Mix lightly
Add salt and sugar
Add jeera and ajwain. Mix again
Add torn curry leaves and mix well. Keep aside, this is the dry mixture
Now to prepare eggplant, wash it. Start cutting ½ Cm thick slices off the eggplant, into large rounds. Arrange them in a plate
Now squeeze in lime/lemon juice all over the brinjal rounds. This adds taste, prevents brinjal from turning brown and lets the dry mixture stick to the brinjal rounds/coins
Keep the dry mixture and brinjal rounds together. Heat a pan or tawa
Now to roast, oil the pan lightly. Dip brinjal rounds in dry rice flour/sooji mixture
Roast them on tawa. Apply some oil in between
When they turn golden, remove them
Serve immediately with ketchup or hot chilli sauce
Notes
It takes around 2-3 minutes per side for the coins to turn golden on a medium-high flame. The edges have to turn crisp, the centre golden and charred in some spots
Use a grill pan if you want to roast these for nice grill marks
Adding lime/lemon juice, adds taste, prevents brinjal from turning brown due to oxidation and lets the dry mixture stick to the brinjal rounds/coins
These can also be roasted in the oven for 12-15 minutes or till done at 200 Deg C, turning them once in between
Adjust spices, powders as per your taste
Recipe by Food Of Interest at https://foodofinterest.com/brinjal-coins/