Aubergine Katsu Cutlets |My Take on Begun Bhaja

Last. night we played a game, which cuisine would you eat if you had ONLY ONE to choose for the rest of your life? Think very carefully before you respond. You probably can very easily guess what I went for? Indian of course! While I’m sure other cuisines also have their variety, in my mind Indian food has the most amount of flavour combinations, spices and preparations. So the next day, I went through my TO-DO list ( yes I have a what food to make next List). And thought I’d experiment a little. Not just improvise on an Indian Bengali dish but also combine that with Japanese food. This is my take on Begun Bhaja, a Bengali delicacy of Aubergine Fritters of sorts. I’ve combined it with a Katsu curry and have lovingly named it Aubergine Katsu Cutlets.

I’ve adapted the traditional Bengali Begun Bhaja recipe, and improvised based on the ingredients I had. Puritans look away now, or read through and see if you think it works for you.

What do I have?

In order to make the traditional Begun Bhaja, you need rice flour and surprisingly I only had a small amount left. That meant I had to think on my feet and figure out what best I could do with the ingredients I had in my store cupboard. Then it hit me, why not use breadcrumbs instead.

I quickly combined breadcrumbs with salt, pepper and some paprika powder. Now I had to find a way of binding this to the aubergine slices.

Allergies, anyone?

The next hurdle was figuring out what to use as a binding agent. Eggs were out of the equation as I am allergic. Yes, difficult specially when it comes to baking. Meringue you’re wondering? Well I’ve never tasted it but I definitely want to try and create an eggless Meringue using Aquafaba at some point.

Thats when I thought of using cornflour. The cornflour paste worked a treat and helped to crisp up the aubergine katsu cutlets beautifully.

Shallow fry these beauties and voila you have the crispiest most delicious katsu cutlets. Serve them along with the curry or serve them on their own as a starter.

Print Recipe

Aubergine Katsu Cutlets | A take on Begun Bhaja

Crispy aubergine katsu cutlets

Course

Main Dish, Side Dish

Cuisine

Asian, Fusion, Indian

Keyword

aubergine, bengali, japanese, katsu

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Servings

people

Ingredients

• 1 large aubergine or brinjals washed and sliced through horizontally to form round slices
• 4-5 tbsp bread crumbs I used the Panko variety
• 1 tsp paprika powder or red chilli powder
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp cornflour
• 2 tsp water
• Salt to taste
• vegetable oil To shallow fry

Course Main Dish, Side Dish Cuisine Asian, Fusion, Indian Keyword aubergine, bengali, japanese, katsu Prep Time 10 mins Cook Time 20 mins Servings people Ingredients 1 large aubergine or brinjals washed and sliced through horizontally to form round slices 4-5 tbsp bread crumbs I used the Panko variety 1 tsp paprika powder or red chilli powder 1/2 tsp pepper Salt to taste 2 tbsp cornflour 2 tsp water Salt to taste vegetable oil To shallow fry

Recipe Notes

1. Wash and slice the aubergines horizontally, so that you have round thick slices.
2. In a bowl, combine the cornflour, water and salt. Make a paste and set aside. Add more water if you feel it is very lumpy.
3. In a white bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, paprika/chilli powder, salt and pepper.
4. Heat oil in a wide pan.
5. Dip the aubergine slice into the cornflour paste and then dip into the breadcrumb mix. Make sure the breadcrumbs coat the aubergine evenly. 
6. Place the aubergine slice onto the pan and shallow fry each side of the aubergine until golden brown. You can place a lid onto the pan for a few minutes until the aubergine cooks. 
7. Turn the aubergine slices so that it browns on both sides evenly.
8. Serve alongside Katsu Curry or devour on its own.

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