Eggplant Fries

Eggplant fries are crispy fried eggplant strips made by deep frying sliced eggplant strips after marinating it with corn starch, breadcrumbs, eggs, salt, pepper and paprika powder. It is a popular Filipino snack and is a good option, instead of potatoes, if you want to cut off your carbs intake. Here’s a very simple eggplant fries recipe you can look at as guide when you try it!

EGGPLANT FRIES RECIPE

Ingredients:

• 2 pieces eggplant
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• Oil (for deep frying)
  2 pieces large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika powder (optional)

Directions:

1. Prepare the eggplants and remove the stalk. Then, cut into long, thick sticks. (Do not remove the skin). Wash, drain and set them aside.
2. For the egg mixture, crack the eggs in a large bowl and whisk gently. Pour the eggs over the eggplant. Add the pepper, salt and paprika powder (optional). Mix until well coated. Set aside.
3. For the dry coating, add the cornstarch in a flat plate and season with salt. Mix well.
4. Dredge the eggplant with the cornstarch. Shake off the excess. Do this with the rest of the eggplant.
5. For the egg coating, crack another egg into a bowl and season with salt, pepper and paprika powder. Also, prepare the breadcrumbs in a flat plate.
6. Dip each eggplant to the egg mixture, then coat using the breadcrumbs. Do this with the rest of the eggplant.
7. Heat a lot of oil in a pan. Deep fry the eggplant fries by batch until golden brown and crispy. Flip to cook the other side. Transfer them to a strainer or paper towel to drain excess oil.
8. Transfer the eggplant fries to a serving plate and serve together with your favorite dipping sauce (or sauces!). Make papak or have it with some hot steaming rice. Yum!

Making your Fries Healthier

As we all know, fries are heavily and deeply fried in oil. With its thin cut, one small fry can absorb so much oil that you can imagine. For example, a small serving of fries is already 200 calories while a large serving can reach up to 500 calories.

With the large calorie contribution of the french fries to our intake, people have started developing healthier alternatives for this. With the use of veggies as the base, the calorie content of the same serving of fries can be reduced up to three times.

Eggplant fries is the recipe featured in this blog. This dish followed the same concept of our favorite crispy fries but made it healthier. With this healthier and lower calorie version, we can enjoy our fries with less guilt and tastier way.

Dips for Eggplant Fries

As a fan of fries, I have tried dipping my french fries into different sauces to better enjoy them. Here are some of my recommendations:

• Heinz tomato ketchup
• Japanese mayonnaise
• Mayonnaise + pickles + hot sauce + Worcestershire sauce
• Herbed Ranch dressing
• Asian Dressing
• Mayo Mustard
• Cheesy Gravy

Crispy Eggplant Fries

Eggplant fries has been quite my afternoon snack since three days ago. I was really happy that I got to harvest several eggplants from our very own garden. Although there are many savoury dishes you can add eggplant to, eating eggplant as a snack is a life changer. Some people hate eggplants because of too many seeds inside, or too mushy when cooked. But with proper preparation, one can enjoy eggplants way more than you can imagine.

As a fan of french fries, I decided to choose health. So instead of ordering again from my favorite fastfood restaurant, let’s utilize these garden eggplants and turn them into a quick snack which will also satisfy our fries cravings.

To make it extra healthier, you can try eggplant fries in air-fryer or baked eggplant fries to use less oil. Yum! If you wanna know how to make eggplant fries, simply read and follow the quick steps below. Happy cooking!

How to Cook Eggplant Fries

Preparing eggplant fries is a little more time consuming than using ready to fry potato fries. But at least, they are healthier and crunchier! Don’t forget to prepare your favorite sauces!

Start by preparing the eggplant. For this recipe, we want to use the long violet ones than the green short ones. After removing the stalk, simple slice them a few times to achieve the common size of a fries. You have the choice to either to remove the skin or not. In this recipe, I chose not to remove the skin so that there is something that could hold the eggplant together for later. If you will be dealing with a large batch of eggplants, soak the sliced pieces in water to prevent from darkening.

When all the eggplant fries are prepared, let’s add a first layer of flavor through seasoning. The most common seasonings which can highlight the natural flavor of the eggplant include salt, pepper and paprika powder. To make them stick to the eggplant, crack an egg first before adding the seasonings. 

The dry coating is simply cornstarch seasoned with a little salt. Did you know that cornstarch can make a dish extra crispy than when using flour as coating? Try it to find out! Dredge each of the eggplant fries into the cornstarch then in beaten eggs, and lastly, with the breadcrumbs.

The last step would be deep frying the eggplant fries until golden brown. When deep frying food coated with breadcrumbs, strain the breadcrumb residue first before adding in the next batch. They may taste burnt when burned.

Serve your eggplant fries immediately after cooking to enjoy its crunchiness! Have your different dipping sauces available at the table. Yum!

WHAT ARE FRIES

The word “fries” literally means “food cooked in hot oil, typically in a shallow pan”. But in the food culture, “fries” (or “chips” in the UK) is more commonly associated with potato fries or French fries.

Why was is called French fries? Our first thought might be, because it was invented in France. Contrary to this, our theory was wrong. One fries history claimed that this snack started in Namur, Belgium where people originally eat fried fish. But as the Meuse river froze during the winter season and cannot hunt fish, they shifted to eating fried potatoes instead. They cut the potatoes in a shape similar to the fish. Americans from the World War I saw these people eating the fried potatoes and instantly called them “French fries” since the language of those people are French.

Eggplant Fries Recipe (in Tagalog)

Mga Sangkap:

• 2 talong
• 1 kutsaritang asin
• 1 tasang cornstarch
• 1 tasang breadcrumbs
• Mantika (pang deep fry)
  2 malalaking itlog
• 1/2 kutsaritang asin
• 1/2 kutsaritang paminta
• 1/2 kutsaritang paprika powder (optional)

Paano Lutuin:

1. Ihanda ang mga talong at alisin ang tangkay nito. Hiwain ng mahahabang sticks. (Wag alisin ang balat). Hugasan ng mabuti at isantabi.
2. Para sa egg mixture, batihin ang 1 itlog sa bowl. Ibuhos ito sa mga talong. Timplahan ng paminta, asin, at paprika powder (optional). Haluin hanggang malagyan lahat ng mixture. Isantabi.
3. Dredge the eggplant with the cornstarch. Shake off the excess. Do this with the rest of the eggplant.
4. Pagulungin sa cornstarch ang mga talong. Medyo ishake para mahulog ang mga sobra. Gawin ito sa iba pang talong.
5. Para sa egg coating, batihin ang isa pang itlog sa bowl at timplahan ng asin, paminta at paprika powder. Ihanda na rin ang breadcrumbs sa isa pang lalagyan.
6. Idip ang mga talong sa egg mixture saka pagulungin sa breadcrumbs. Gawin ito sa iba pang talong.
7. Magpainit ng maraming mantika. Ideep fry ang mga talong fries hanggang maging golden brown at crispy. Baliktarin para maluto ang kabilang side. Ilipat ang mga ito sa strainer o paper towel para tumulo ang sobrang mantika.
8. Ilipat ang eggplant fries sa serving plate at ihain kasama ng iyong favorite sawsawan! Papakin o samahan ng mainit na kanin. Yum!