Deep fried eggplants

I got this recipe from my hubby and he in turn, found it on the internet. The type of eggplant to use in this dish is globe eggplant. The problem with eggplant is that it's flesh is permeated with water. In order to get good flavors and texture in this preparation, salting it is very important. Salting accomplishes two goals. First, it pulls out the natural waters that carry bitter flavors and it collapses the air pockets in the eggplant's sponge-like flesh. The result prevents it from absorbing too much oil and getting greasy later when deep fried.

This dish was featured in Asian Food Channel (Official) Facebook page 

on 22 October 2012

Largely adapted from Fxcuisine.com

Ingredients:

2 medium globe eggplants

1 1/2 cup flour

¼ tsp ground clove

¼ tsp ground coriander

2 cups vegetable oil

½ cup salt

2 cups shredded cheddar ( or mozarella cheese, whatever you prefer)

Method to salt the eggplant:

To salt eggplant, peel and slice the eggplant into 1/4 inch slices. Sprinkle the pieces generously with salt and let them sit in a colander for an hour (you'll usually see a lot of liquid beading on the surface). Rinse the eggplant in running water to remove the salt, firmly squeeze a few pieces at a time in the palm of your hand to draw out almost all the moisture, and then pat the them dry with lots of absorbent paper towels. The rinsing will take longer then you think so be careful to thoroughly rinse and re-rinse until the salt is thoroughly washed away. Also, thorough drying is important. Squeezing out excess moisture will give you a less greasy result. The slices of eggplant will lose volume if you have done these steps correctly.

Method of cooking:

Mix flour, clove and coriander. Lightly coat eggplant with mixture. Heat oil till very hot. To test if the oil is hot enough, put a chopstick in the oil and if bubbles form around it, it is ready to add the eggplants in. Deep fry eggplants till golden brown and put them on absorbent paper towels to get rid of all the oil. Preheat oven at 200 degree C or 400 degree F. Lay eggplant slices flat on a baking dish. Add shredded cheese on top and bake just till cheese melts. Remove from oven and transfer to serving plate and serve immediately.

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