Chatpate Kurkure 'Beguni'

'Beguni' is a very popular dish in Bengali cuisine. My Bengali friends love to enjoy crispy eggplant pakoras with puffed rice as an evening snacks. I thought why not add a little bit of twist to this age old delicious recipe. Here I am to present 'The Tangy Crispy Eggplant Pakoras'. This recipe is on the fried side but once in a while indulging in a few mouthwatering pakoras is okay to me. If that's okay to you too then please go ahead and have a look how you can prepare 'the famous beguni' with a twist!

Ingredients for 4 eggplant pakoras:

1. Small eggplant - 4
2. Gram flour - 1 cup
3. Cilantro/coriander leaves - 2 bunches
4. Chopped cilantro - 1/2 cup
5. Chopped green chilies - 5
6. Garlic - 4 cloves
7. Lemon - 4
8. Green chilies - 5 
9. Turmeric powder - 1/2 teaspoon
10. Red chili powder - 1 teaspoon
11. Roasted cumin powder - 1 teaspoon
12. Distilled white vinegar - 1 teaspoon
13. Black salt to taste
14. Refined oil - 1 cup

Okay, let's start!

• Wash the eggplants
• Have 4 slits in the eggplant (from bottom to top in such a way that the stem is intact and the stem can hold the whole eggplant nicely)
• Sprinkle salt on the eggplants and set aside for 5 minutes
• Meanwhile start with other preparations,grind cilantro, garlic and green chilies with 1/2 cup of water
• When the cilantro paste is ready, add black salt and lemon juice to it to prepare a tangy sauce
• Here is the twist, make a batter of gram flour with 'this sauce', adjust the salt, if needed
• Add chopped coriander leaves, chopped green chilies, roasted cumin powder, red chili powder, distilled white vinegar and turmeric powder to the batter. Mix it well and prepare a nice smooth batter. 
• The consistency of the batter should be thick enough to cover the eggplant properly
• Heat the refined oil in a deep frying pan, the oil should be real hot, dip the eggplants one by one into the gram flour batter and deep fry it till the eggplant pakoras look golden brown
• Serve it hot with your favorite sauce 

A chatpata way to enjoy these crispy spicy pakoras is to serve it hot with a little bit of chat masala and spicy tangy dhaniya chutney (cilantro sauce).

Good luck and enjoy the recipe!