Beguni – Aubergine Fritters

The universal favourite amongst all Bengalis and for those non-Bengalis who haven’t tasted this piece of frolic, ladies & gents, this humble snack is called the ‘Beguni’. 🙂

I’ve had a Marwari friend who loved the Beguni so much that she would visit us every Durga Puja to go pandal hopping with us just to have the Beguni and guess what, she even proclaimed to nickname her first born child ‘Beguni’! 😀

Yes ma’am, this rockstar of a Beguni is made out of large brinjal/ aubergine slices dipped in batter and golden fried.

The recipe is super simple, with the ingredients easily available at home. Sometime back I had shared the recipe of Begun Bhaja with you, now it’s time for the superstar version to be introduced.

If you haven’t tasted it yet, it’s time you do and introduce your tastebuds to a whole new glamorous avatar of the humble brinjal or aubergine or baigan or begun. 😉

This snack is usually served as a side dish along with kichudi during Durga Puja. Owing to its growing popularity, food stalls also cook up this snack served with rock salt on top which is to salivate for.

For this snack, we  normally fry it with mustard oil, but you can use any refined white oil as well.

Ingredients: 

• Brinjal – Medium – thin slices
• Ground Chickpea flour (besan) – 1 bowl
• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
• Salt – to taste
• Onion seeds (kalunji) – 1 tsp
• Asafoetida (hing) – 1 pinch
• Oil – for shallow frying

Method:

1. Wash the brinjals thoroughly before making medium to thin slices.
2. Make a thick batter with ground chickpea flower, salt, turmeric powder, hing and onion seeds.
3. Heat oil in a wok/ kadhai.
4. Dip the brinjal slices in the batter, gently shake off excess batter and drop in hot oil.
5. Fry until both sides are golden brown in colour.
6. Remove and place on kitchen paper to drain excess oil.
7. Serve hot as a snack with tea or with daal-rice or a khicdi combination

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