Crispy Beguni: Super Crunchy Brinjal Fries To Try

Pakoras are the all-time favourites of the Indian masses and one of the most easily-made snacks at home. All one has to do is just run through one’s kitchen for some besan or gram flour, a few spices and veggies. One such popular vegetable and besan combined pakora are Bengali-style Beguni. The oblong and thinly sliced brinjals coated with an intelligently devised 80:20 ratio of besan and rice flour batter gives just the right crisp coating to brinjal fritters without interfering with its inherent soft insides and lush taste. True delight can be known only after cooking and tasting it.

Brinjal Fritters And The Various Ways Of Doing It

Brinjal Fritters aren't just confined to West Bengal and are liked and eaten throughout various parts of India. Let's open the chapter with Bengal itself and their version of Beguni or beguner chop, which is one of the most popular telebhaja or a snack fried in oil. Brinjal Fritters are popularly relished as evening snacks in Eastern India and beyond. The basic ingredients including gram flour and rice flour batter and the way of cooking are the same throughout various regions with slight variations in making spices added to the batter. The batter can be spiced up more with nigella seeds, cumin, chillies, and ginger-garlic paste depending on one’s choice and cultural practice. Sometimes cornflour is substituted for rice flour too.

Brinjal fritters are known by various names, like Baingan Bajji in South India, and Baingan Pakora in North India. Among the various versions of Brinjal fritters are Gulla Phodi, Brinjal fry made with matti Gulla, a different kind of brinjal. These are popular throughout Udupi, and Mangalore and are known as a Konkani speciality. 

Preparation:

Cooking: 40 minutes

Servings:8 

Ingredients:

80 g besan (gram flour)

20 g rice flour

4 g salt

5 g sugar

½ tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder

120 g water

150 g/12 slices brinjal

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

mustard oil for deep frying

1 pinch of black salt for seasoning

Method:

. Firstly, sieve the besan, rice flour, salt, sugar, turmeric powder, and Kashmiri red chilli powder through a strainer into a large bowl. This will help in removing small impurities.

. Then add water little by little, keep stirring and mixing everything to get a smooth and lump-free batter.

. Then take small oblong brinjals and cut them lengthwise to about 3-mm thin slices. Care should be taken to ensure that slices are neither too thick nor too thin and are uniform in thickness so that they get evenly cooked.

. Coat the brinjal slices with ½ tsp each of salt and sugar and spread the slices over a strainer. The salt and sugar help to take out the moisture from brinjals and keep them crispier for longer.

. Just before frying, soak the excess moisture in the brinjals by dabbing lightly with tissue paper.

. For frying brinjals, heat mustard oil in a wok. When the oil starts smoking, dip the brinjal slice into the batter, shake off the excess and deep fry in the oil until crisp and golden from both sides. 

. Tips and Tricks: The brinjal can be flipped on the other side after 10 seconds and both sides can be completely fried on medium heat in about 4 minutes.

. Sprinkle the fried Begunis with salt and pepper.

With such a great ease of cooking and simple and great tips for getting the crunchiest outside, these brinjal fritters are worth preparing sooner than later. Eat them like a snack with coriander chutney or include them as a crispy accompaniment to the rice and dal lunch meal.