Garlickly Eggplant Pakora Fritters Recipes

Steps:

• Trim and peel the eggplant and cut it into 1-inch cubes. If the eggplants are large, sprinkle them with salt, put them in a colander, and let them sit for at least 30 minutes, preferably 1 hour. Rinse.
• Set a large pot of water to boil. Blanch the eggplant in the boiling water for about 5 minutes or until soft. Drain in a colander, pressing to get rid of as much moisture as possible. Combine in a food processor with the egg, parsley, Parmesan, garlic, and cayenne and process until smooth. Pulse in enough bread crumbs or flour to make a batter that will hold together.
• Put enough oil in a large nonstick skillet to coat the bottom to a depth of about 1/4 inch. Turn the heat to medium-high and wait until the oil is hot; when it's ready, a pinch of flour will sizzle. Drop the batter from a spoon, as you would pancake batter, and cook until nicely browned on both sides. Do not crowd the fritters, and adjust the heat as necessary so they brown without burning. Total cooking time per pancake will be about 6 minutes. Serve hot or warm, with lemon wedges.
• Somewhat easier, if anything. In step 1, grate or shred an equal amount of zucchini; wring in a towel to squeeze out as much moisture as possible (if the zucchini are salted, the resulting pancakes will have slightly better texture, but it isn't imperative). Blanching is not necessary. Combine by hand with the remaining ingredients and cook as directed.

Steps:

• 1. Prepare the chaat masala and ginger-garlic paste. Then prepare the basic batter. Mix in the cilantro, garlic paste, ajwain seeds, and red pepper flakes. Add the eggplant slices to the batter.2. Heat the peanut and mustard oils and fry the eggplant slices as per directions in INFORMATION AND SPECIAL TECHNIQUES: __Frying Fritters (Pakorae Talna). Transfer all the fried pakoras to a serving platter, sprinkle the chaat masala on top, and serve.VARIATION: Try this batter with 25 to 30 slices of zucchini, opo squash, or any other summer squash.From "1,000 Indian Recipes." Copyright 2002 by Neelam Batra. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.