Fried Eggplant Fritters

The Chinese eggplant I bought for this recipe was hilariously long, thick, and wiggly.

Indian foods have always been my thing, making-wise and eating-wise. Though I can make other types of foods, making Indian food is really easy for me. That's probably because I am Pakistani (we usually eat a combination of Indian and Pakistani dishes) but also because these are the types of foods my mother can most easily teach me to make. One Indian snack I made recently was fried eggplant fritters.

Eggplant fritters; before and after

Fried eggplant fritters (pakora in Urdu) are obviously made out of eggplants. But they are coated with besan flour (gram flour) before they are deep fried. I think I was a bit out of my mind when I decided to make this because I'm supposed to be dieting. Needless to say, I do not regret it because they tasted amazing.

First you completely dip a slice of eggplant in a besan flour and Indian spice mixture.

Truthfully, I was pretty skeptical at first. I mean, I know I just said that I love Indian food and all, but eggplants? Come on... But my doubts were proved wrong. Another good thing is that my grandpa from Pakistan is here spending his summer with us. He is an amazing cook and he really enjoys what he does. Luckily for me, he spends most of his time here passing his technique down to me. He was the one who convinced me to try this recipe. (Of course, my vegetarian sister helped).

Fry the dipped eggplants till they're golden brown.

Make sure to drain them well, or they become really oily.

Yummy!

The inside of the pakora was the biggest surprise to me. I've made fried Indian snacks many times before; onion pakora, potato pakora, and even green pepper pakora. These pakoras have always turned out crunchy. The eggplant pakora, however, was really soft and mushy which contrasted nicely with the crunchy outside. This is definitely a recipe everyone should try!

I like my food best with ketchup (I know that's totally un-Desi right there).