Recipe | Smoked whole baby eggplant coated in spicy egg

A perfect brunch recipe, combining eggs and eggplants. Once the eggplant is cooked it becomes soft and velvety. Dipped in egg and cooked until golden, this is a great, nutritious start to your weekend.

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

4-6 Japanese eggplants 

olive oil 

1 onion, thinly sliced 

4-6 eggs, beaten 

salt and pepper 

¼ tsp garam masala 

½ tsp ground cumin 

½ tsp ground coriander 

1 tsp chilli powder (or to taste) 

handful of chopped fresh coriander 

roti or paratha or rice and salad, to serve 

pomegranate seeds, to serve 

small handful of fried curry leaves, to serve 

chutney, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven grill to high. Line a tray with baking paper.

Wash and pat dry the eggplants. Leaving the stems on, poke holes all over each eggplant with a fork. Place on the lined tray and grill on high. You will have to keep turning them to cook them evenly.

While they are cooking, heat 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and fry the sliced onion until golden. Set aside.

Whisk the eggs with salt and pepper and all the spices and pour into a large shallow bowl. Add the fried onion and chopped coriander to the egg mixture.

When the eggplants are charred and feel soft, set aside to cool. Once cooled, peel the skin off. Lay each eggplant on a chopping board or tray and flatten gently with a fork so they are in a teardrop shape.

Heat another 1-2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and then coat each eggplant well in the egg mixture. Cook until golden (2-3 minutes) and then flip with a spatula and cook the other side. Repeat with the rest of the eggplants.

Serve hot with roti or paratha, or rice and a salad. Top with pomegranate seeds, curry leaves and chutney.

Tip You can cook the eggplants directly on your hob if you have gas – it gives a real charred finish (though personally I don’t like to do this as I find it gets too messy). Use whatever seasoning you like. I have suggested 1 eggplant per person, but you can easily double the quantities to cook more.

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More recipes by Ashia Ismail-Singer:

Roast Kūmara with Curry Leaf & Mustard Seed Yoghurt

Mixed Heirloom Tomato and Labne Salad