Читать книгу 30-Minute Vegetarian - Rose Elliot - Страница 22

Little Aubergine Fritters with Caper Sauce

These are deliciously crisp and crunchy on the outside, tender within, and very easy to make. I love them with a creamy caper sauce – one of my absolute favourites.

Serves 4

2 medium-sized aubergines

Olive oil, for shallow-frying

Lemon wedges, to serve

For the coating (see tip)

120g (4oz) cornflour

½ tsp salt

90–120ml (3½-4½fl oz) water

100g (3½oz) fine dried breadcrumbs

For the caper sauce

4 generous tbsp mayonnaise

1 tbsp capers, chopped

1. Peel the aubergines using a swivel-blade potato peeler; remove the stalks, and cut the aubergines into slices about 8mm (¼in) thick. You can cut them into circles, long slices, fingers or triangles, whatever shape appeals to you.

2. Mix the cornflour, salt and water to make a mixture that is soft enough to dip the aubergine slices into but stiff enough to stick to them; I stir the mixture with my fingers as I add the water gradually so that I can feel when it reaches this stage.

3. Dip the aubergine pieces first in the cornflour mixture, then into the crumbs, to coat them all over.

4. Heat enough olive oil in a frying pan to coat the surface lightly, then put in the fritters and fry them on both sides, until they are crisp, golden brown, and the aubergine inside feels tender when pierced with a sharp pointed knife. Drain them on kitchen paper.

5. While they are frying, quickly make the sauce by mixing together the mayonnaise and capers. Put into a small serving bowl.

6. Serve the fritters with lemon wedges, and the sauce.

Tip: The cornflour-and-crumb coating is my favourite for fritters, croquettes and so on. I find the thin but sticky paste gives a wonderfully reliable, crisp result, which I prefer to an egg-and-breadcrumb coating.

Make it vegan: Instead of dairy mayonnaise, use the Tofu Mayonnaise.