Colm O'Gorman's burnt aubergine fritter with feta, green chutney and pomegranate

Burnt Aubergine Fritter with Feta, Green Chutney, Pickled Red Onion and Tomato Salsa, and Pomegranate

I spotted a Filipino dish called Tortang Talong on Instagram recently. It is an omelette of sorts; a burnt aubergine that is flattened and coated in egg and then pan fried and served over rice. It looks great, and I plan on cooking it soon, but it also inspired this week’s recipe. Burnt aubergine is for me, a classic Middle Eastern flavour. I adore baba ganoush, or Moroccan Zaalouk, a salad made with burnt aubergine, tomatoes and spices. So, when I spotted Tortang Talong on Instagram, it immediately had me conjuring up this fusion dish of burnt aubergine fritters in a crispy pakora batter, served with a herby chilli chutney, feta, pickled red onion and tomato salsa, and pomegranate seeds.

When I cooked this for the first time, I served it with Zhouk, a fiery Yemeni chilli and herb sauce, but it rather overpowered the aubergine, so I went instead with this green chutney made with coriander, coconut, chilli, yoghurt, and honey which worked beautifully. You can amp up the heat if you wish by adding more green chilli or use your own favourite chilli sauce instead. Some creamy Greek yoghurt on the side would also work well. If you want to make a fully vegan version, used soy yoghurt for the sauce or side.

You will need gram flour, a flour made from chickpeas, for the batter. This is readily available in most health food stores or in any Asian supermarket.

This recipe serves two people as a main course, or four as a side.

Burnt Aubergine Fritter with Feta, Green Chutney, Pickled Red Onion and Tomato Salsa, and Pomegranate

recipe by:Colm O'Gorman

This dish works as a vegetarian main dish, or as a side. It would be lovely with my Harissa Chicken or my Spiced Roast Leg of Lamb. You can find both of those recipes on ieFood.

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 60 mins

Cooking Time

 30 mins

Total Time

 1 hours 30 mins

Course

 Dessert

Cuisine

 European

Ingredients

• Aubergine Fritters

• 2 aubergines

• 100g gram flour

• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• 1 tsp ground coriander

• 1 tsp chili powder

• 1 tsp flaky sea salt

• 150ml cold water

• Pickled Red Onion and Tomato Salsa

• Half a red onion

• 1 green chilli

• A pinch of salt

• Juice of a lime

• 1 tsp honey or pomegranate molasses

• 100g sweet cherry plum tomatoes

• 1 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

• Green Chutney

• 20g fresh coriander

• 10g fresh mint leaves

• 15g desiccated coconut

• 1 small clove of garlic

• Juice of a lime

• 1 tsp honey

• 60g Greek or soy yoghurt

• To Serve

• 100g feta

• Fresh flat leaf parsley

• Fresh pomegranate seeds

Method

1. Burnt aubergine has a beautiful smoky, creamy flavour. To prepare the aubergines, place them on an open gas flame and burn the skin, turning it regularly until it is scorched all over. You can also do this under the grill, just put the aubergines under a very hot grill and turn them regularly until the skin is well scorched all over, but an open flame gives the best flavour. This will only take three to four minutes over an open flame. Remove the aubergines from the flame when it is done and set them aside on a plate to cool down before peeling them.

2. While they are cooling, make the batter. Combine all the dry ingredients in big bowl and add the water. Whisk for a minute or two until you have a smooth batter and then set aside for at least fifteen minutes.

3. You can prep the chutney while you wait. Wash the herbs, use both the leaves and stalks of the coriander as they are full of flavour, but discard the stalks of the mint as they are a bit to fibrous for the chutney. You need 10g of mint leaves and 20g of fresh coriander. Peel the garlic. Wash and deseed the chilli before chopping it into chunks. Pop all the chutney ingredients into a food processor, but do not whiz them into a chutney until you are just about ready to serve.

4. Peel and finely slice the red onion for the salsa. Wash, deseed and finely slice the green chilli. Put the onion and chilli into a bowl, and add the salt, honey, and lime juice. Stir well to combine and set aside for now. Wash and chop the cherry tomatoes into quarters, you will add those and the fresh parsley to the salsa just before you serve.

5. When the burnt aubergines are cool enough to handle, peel off the skin but leave on the stalk. This is easy to do, if a little messy. You can use the edge of a small sharp knife to scrape away any bits of skin that remain stuck to the flesh, just be careful not to remove the smoky flesh on the surface beneath the skin at the same time.

6. To shallow fry the fritters, heat about 3cm of sunflower oil in a frying pan. Put the peeled aubergines on a clean chopping broad and use a large fork to gently flatten them out until they are about 2cm thick, being careful to keep each aubergine attached to the stalk and in one piece.

7. Pour the batter into a wide bowl, and holding it by the stalk, dip the flattened aubergine in the bater, spreading it out and then turning it to get it well coated on both sides.

8. When the oil is good and hot, you want it at about 180 Celsius, very carefully lay one of the batter-coated aubergines down in the oil. Take care to avoid any splatters of hot oil while doing so. Fry the aubergine for three minutes until the batter is golden and crisp, and then turn it over to fry the other side for another three minutes. Drain the fritter on some kitchen paper and repeat to cook the second aubergine.

9. Finish the chutney by blitzing it to a fine texture. Add the tomatoes and chopped flat leaf parsley to the salsa, stir them in well and taste. Add more honey, lime juice or salt as desired.

10. Seve the aubergine fritters while hot whole on a plate with some crumbled feta, pomegranate seeds, and flat leaf parsley over the top with the salsa and chutney on the side.