Eggplant Circles

Have you tried eating eggplant as a gourmet snack? This eggplant circles recipe will truly change your game! Your usual and simple eggplant is now jam packed with all your other favorite veggies. The bite sized eggplant circles you surely won’t resist! Best served as a snack, or even as a pulutan! So healthy!

EGGPLANT CIRCLES RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 3 pieces large egg plant
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 piece chicken hotdog
• Spring onions
• 3 eggs
• 3 tablespoons of cornstarch
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Wash and peel the carrot. Chop it into very small pieces. 
2. Remove the hotdog casing and then chop it into very small cubes.
3. Prepare and chop the spring onions.
4. Prepare the eggplants and chop them into thick circles. Do not peel. Remove the center of the eggplant circles using a spoon to create a large hole. Save the eggplant holes and chop them into small pieces.
5. Combine the chopped eggplant, carrots and hotdogs in a bowl. Add the cornstarch, chopped spring onions and eggs. Season with some salt and pepper to taste. Mix until well combined.
6. Heat some oil in a pan. Arrange the eggplant rings and fill the hole with the eggplant and veggie mixture. When the bottom has browned and formed, flip carefully to cook the other side. Do this to all the eggplant circles. Transfer them to a strainer or paper towel to drain excess oil.
7. Transfer the eggplant circles to a serving plate. Enjoy this as a snack together with your favorite dipping sauce. You can also have this with a lot of hot steaming rice. Yum!

Eggplant is one of the most common vegetables you can see at the market. The two most common varieties of eggplant you can see in the Philippines are the long and thin violet one and the green short and chubby ones.

All eggplants taste the same. Their white flesh is firm when raw and becomes super soft when cooked. If you look at them closely, they are really filled with a lot of seeds.

We use these eggplants in different dishes according to purpose. For example, if you will make some crispy eggplant which needs longer eggplants, we use the violet ones. If you need some eggplant for pinakbet or simple fry, you can use either of the two. In this recipe, we will be dealing with eggplant which must be cut into thick circles, like thick rings. Technically, you can use either of the two, but the violet long ones can yield more thick rings.

EGGPLANT CIRCLES

Food prices are continuously rising and when you spot a sale, you grab it! I went to our local market and spotted a vendor who sells 5 long eggplants for 25 pesos! That’s 5 pesos per eggplant. I bought a few bunches and am very committed to having some eggplant dishes for the next few days.

Since one among us in the house is a picky eater, I need to be very creative with the eggplant dishes I will be making. My nephew specifically hates vegetables but can eat them if they are “hidden”.

One of the best eggplant recipes you can serve a picky eater would be this eggplant circles recipe. As you can see in the photo, the eggplant circles kind of look like a small patty. I specifically told my nephew it was a small patty. He didn’t like the taste of plain eggplants but because we have included other different types of veggies and some hotdogs in it, this dish surely made him eat.

If you know someone who has a picky eater child or you have one, or you’re just a fan of eggplants, try this recipe today. The greatest hack is to hide the kid’s fave food inside the eggplant circle, and eventually, they can eat the eggplant on its own.

If you wanna know how to make the eggplant circles, read and follow the simple recipes below. Happy cooking!

HOW TO MAKE EGGPLANT CIRCLES

Making eggplant circles would take quite extra steps but the end will always be super worth it.

The two parts of this recipe would be the eggplant rings and the veggie filling. The eggplant rings is super easy to make. Simply cut the eggplant into THICK circles and then remove the center.

Let’s not waste the eggplant removed from the eggplant circles and add them to the filling. The filling is made by chopping all the veggies and kind of making a batter to add in the middle of the eggplant circle. In this recipe, I used the eggplant, carrots, hotdogs and spring onions. You can use other types of ingredients for this if you like. You can add corn, cheese and many more.

Cooking the eggplant circles is very quick. You don’t want to take too much time on cooking since the eggplants become too soft when cooked. Sear them very quick before adding the filling. Since we used simple ingredients for the filling, the eggplant circles is already good once the filling firmed up and gets a little brown. Then it’s ready!

I really love making papak of these mini eggplant circles. I usually eat them with some ketchup and mayo combined. It’s up to you whether or not you like to remove the eggplant skin, but I really don’t mind the skin once it’s already in my mouth. Yum!

Eggplant Circles Recipe (TAGALOG)

Mga Sangkap:

• 3 malalaking talong
• 1 carrot
• 1 chicken hotdog
• spring onions
• 3 itlog
• 3 kutsara ng cornstarch
• Asin at paminta

Paano Lutuin:

1. Ihanda at balatan ang carrot. Hiwain ito sa maliliit na piraso.
2. Alisin ang balat ng hotdog at hiwain ito sa maliliit na cubes.
3. Ihanda at hiwain ang spring onions.
4. Ihanda ang eggplants at hiwain ng makakapal na circles. Wag itong balatan. Alisin ang gitna ng mga ito gamit ang kutsara para magkaron ito ng butas. Itabi ang tinanggal na talong at hiwain ito sa maliliit na piraso.
5. Paghaluin ang hiniwang talong, carrots at hotdogs sa isang bowl. Sunod na ilagay ang cornstarch, spring onions at itlog. Timplahan ito ng asin at paminta. Haluin ng mabuti.
6. Magpainit ng mantika. Iayos ang mga eggplant rings at lagyan ng veggie filling ang gitna nito. Kapag luto na ang ilalim, baliktarin ang mga ito para maluto ang kabilang side. Gawin ito sa iba pang eggplant circles. Ilipat ang mga ito strainer o paper towel para tumulo ang sobrang mantika.
7. Ilipat ang eggplant circles sa serving plate. Kainin ito bilang meryenda kasama ng iyong favorite sawsawan. Pwede mo rin itong samahan ng mainit na kanin. Yum!