Recipe - Fried Eggplant With Yogurt

1 lg Eggplant; * see note
One half cup Unbleached allpurpose flour
One half teaspoon Baking powder
1 pn Salt
1 cup Beer; approximately
1 tablespoon Olive oil
Lightflavored vegetable
oil; for frying
1 md Red bell pepper; seeded and
cut into 1" wide strips
1 md Green bell pepper; seeded
and cut into 1" wide strips
1 md Onion; cut into 1" pieces
1 cup Plain yogurt; 8 ounces
15 Cloves garlic; minced
6 Pitted black olives; for
garnish
1 Lemon; cut into 8 wedges,
for garnish

Mix together flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisking constantly, pour in
enough beer to form a thin batter, as for pancakes. Add olive oil and whisk
again. In a large, heavy frying pan, heat about One half inch of oil.

When it is hot enough for frying but not smoking, dip a slice of eggplant
into batter and fry on both sides until golden brown. If it seems to be
browning too quickly, reduce heat, wait a moment, then fry another slice of
batterdipped eggplant. When temperature is correct, fry dipped slices of
eggplant a few at a time, drain of excess oil, and set aside to keep warm.
Add peppers to oil and fry just until skin begins to blister. Drain. Then
add onion and fry, tossing in oil, until pieces are heated through. Drain
and set aside with eggplant to keep warm.

In a blender puree yogurt and garlic until garlic is totally dissolved.

Cut about One half inch from top and bottom of eggplant. With a sharp knife,
peel eggplant lengthwise in strips, making a striped pattern of peeled and
unpeeled areas, each about 1 inch wide. Cut eggplant crosswise into
1/4inch slices. Cover and set aside.

To serve, arrange slices of eggplant in a circle around the rim of a
serving dish. Scatter onion and bell pepper over eggplant and drizzle
yogurtgarlic sauce over all. Garnish with olives and lemon wedges. Serve
at once.

NOTES : Yield: 6 as a side dish or 12 as a appetizer.

Recipe by: Cole Publishing Group Recipe Collection

Posted to recipeludigest by Karen Sonnessa ksonness@suffolk.lib.ny.us on
Feb 3, 1998