Crispy Fried Eggplant with Homemade Harissa
Ingredients
- 1 large eggplant
- 1 Tbs salt
- 1/4 cup cornflour
- 1 Tbs Water
- 1/2-3/4 cup panko or breadcrumbs
- 2 Tbs homemade harissa paste (make your own-recipe linked in above post)
- small bunch of parsley, for garnish, chopped
Instructions
Cut and Salt Eggplant
- You can leave the skin on the eggplant or peel it, whichever you prefer- we leave it on! Slice the eggplant lengthwise into about 1/2 inch thick slices. You should get 5 slices. Arrange them on a baking tray and sprinkle over the Tbs of salt, making sure to sprinkle on both sides of the eggplant(except the end pieces with skin- turn those over so the skin side is facing up). Leave it to sweat for an hour. After 30 minutes, you should see puddles of water begin to pool under the slices. "Sweating" the eggplant will firm up the flesh, and help it soak up less oil, giving us a less- greasy finish! Pat slices dry with a paper towel.
Dip and Fry
- Mix the cornstarch with 1 Tbs water, until smooth. Arrange two plates. Add the cornstarch mixture to one and the panko crumbs to the other. Heat up a pan with oil to fry. One at a time, dip the eggplant slices into the cornstarch until thoroughly coated on both sides. Then dip the slice into the panko crumbs. Fry until golden and crispy, 1-2 minutes on each side.
Plate
- To serve, arrange the crispy eggplant slices on a serving plate. You can smear a bit of Harissa onto each one, or place the Harissa into a small dipping bowl for each person to take themselves. Sprinkle over chopped parsley. Enjoy!
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