This crispy pan-fried brinjal makes the perfect side-dish

Sheela Preuitt — Wed, 19 Oct 2016 10:16:37 +0000

A member of the nightshade family, brinjal isn’t everyone’s favourite but its nutrition profile makes it to the list of the healthiest veggies in the world. Also called eggplant and aubergine, brinjal is actually a fruit. But don’t make the mistake of adding it to a fruit salad!

Thinly sliced, spiced and shallow fried eggplant is mostly savoured as a side dish with some rice and curry or lentils.

Ingredients

1 small globe eggplant, sliced thin
Canola oil for shallow pan frying
½ cup buttermilk

Crumb coating

¼ cup almonds
3 tbsp flax meal
¼ cup TVP [Textured Vegetable Protein]
10 fresh mint leaves
1 tbsp smoked paprika
Salt to taste

Dusting

½ cup brown rice flour [or more as needed] in a large flat plate

Preparation method

Salt the eggplant slices, allow them to sweat on a towel, rinse and pat dry.
Combine the ingredients for the crumb coating and grind them to a fine powder.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a cast iron skillet.
Dust each eggplant slice in flour, dip in buttermilk and then press down on the crumb coating till a layer adheres.
Shallow, pan-fry the slices in a bit of oil, one or two at a time, flipping to cook both sides, till the crumb crisps up and eggplant is cooked.
Serve warm with mint-fennel pesto or tangy Tuscan dressing or basil-garlic tomato sauce.

Brinjals are good for your health

Brinjals are a wonderful source of dietary fibre. They are also rich in important nutrients such as vitamin B1, copper, manganese, vitamin B6, niacin, potassium, folate and vitamin K. Brinjals contain phytonutrients too such as nasunin and chlorogenic acid.
Source: WHFoods.org

This recipe was first published in the September 2014 issue of Complete Wellbeing.