Srilankan eggplant moju (Wambatu Moju)
🌎 Eggplant Moju is one of the most popular dishes in Sri Lanka. It is a delicious food that can be kept for a long time if it is made in the right way and kept in the right way. This dish is most commonly used in festive menus and also the famous lamprais. Today I am going to tell you how to make this eggplant moju properly.
🌎 The eggplant moju taste like is combo of sweet and sour, the crunch of the shallots, and the deep-fried brinjals all work well to give you this vegetable pickle.
You can serve the wambatu/brinjal moju with various types of rice dishes. Here are a few.
♥️ Plain white rice, Sri Lankan yellow rice or ghee rice.
♥️ Any type of fried rice.
♥️ Chicken fried rice.
♥️ Beef fried rice.
♥️ Vegetable fried rice(spicy).
♥️ Try the batu moju with various biryani rice
♥️ egg biryani (one-pot rice dish/stove-top).
♥️ Chicken biryani(Hyderabadi).
♥️ chicken pot Biryani.
♥️ Fry them in smaller batches while keeping a steady heat so they gradually fry evenly.
♥️ What you are looking for is to have the eggplant fried to a deep brown.
♥️ Despite the pickle being a preservative I would say you can keep this for a week or two. the moju doesn’t last that long at our place though.
♥️ Instead of a glass bottle with a small mouth, use a plastic or glass container with a wide mouth and yes it needs to be refrigerated. make sure you use a dry spoon.
♥️ take a few spoons into a bowl and leave it out to reach room temp and consume
♥️ Storing- since you can refrigerate the eggplant for more than 2 weeks, store it in a dry glass container and use a dry spoon.
♥️ Freezing-since the brinjal moju is a pickle, I don’t think you would need to freeze the vegetable pickle just refrigerate.
♥️ Reheating- avoid reheating.
♥️ Stop food waste by you can avoid wasting as this brinjal pickle can be stored for a long period
♥️ The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.
♥️ 500g eggplant cut into thick strips(see notes above)
♥️ 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
♥️ 2-3 cups of oil
♥️ 250g shallots
♥️ 100g medium-sized green chillies
♥️ 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste(2-3 garlic cloves and 1/2 inch ginger piece)
♥️ 1 tablespoon chilli powder
♥️ 1 and 1/2 tablespoon mustard powder(pound the mustard or use a grinder for this purpose)
♥️ 2 tablespoons of Sugar
♥️ 1/3 cup vinegar
♥️ Salt to season
♥️ Have all the ingredients for the batu moju ready.
♥️ Cut the eggplant(500g)to the required size
♥️ Place the thick strips of eggplant in a bowl or a flat surface.
♥️ Add salt to season and turmeric(1/2 tsp)to the eggplants, combine, cover and leave it for 10 minutes
♥️ Place a frying pan over medium heat and pour in the oil.
♥️ Gradually increase heat for the oil to reach frying temperature.
♥️ Make sure you have a steady oil temperature, do not let it smoke, this would lead to burnt strips of eggplant.
♥️ If the oil does reach the smoking point, turn off the heat and start heating the oil again(after a few minutes of course).
♥️ Gently squeeze out any extra liquid off the eggplant strips.
♥️ Fry them until they turn dark in colour, you can either fry them until they turn golden in colour or a dark brown.
♥️ Place the fried eggplant/brinjal in paper towels to absorb oil.
♥️ You can also air fry the eggplant strips to make this Sri Lankan eggplant recipe.
♥️ Use the same oil to fry the shallots(250g)and green chillies (100g)for 1-2 minutes over low-medium fire
♥️ Place these with the brinjals on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
♥️ To a separate bowl, add mustard powder(1 and 1/2 tsp), ginger-garlic paste(1 tbs), salt to season, chilli powder(1 tbsp), sugar(2 tbsp), and vinegar(1/3 cup).
♥️ Combine well until sugar dissolves.
♥️ Taste the pickling sauce and see if there is a balance of taste between sour, sweet, and heat. adjust accordingly.
♥️ Add the shallots, and green chillies and combine well.
♥️ Add the fried aubergines/eggplant to the pickling onions and green chillies.
♥️ Set aside for at least 1-2 hours before serving for a better-tasting wambatu moju.
🌎 The eggplant moju taste like is combo of sweet and sour, the crunch of the shallots, and the deep-fried brinjals all work well to give you this vegetable pickle.
You can serve the wambatu/brinjal moju with various types of rice dishes. Here are a few.
♥️ Plain white rice, Sri Lankan yellow rice or ghee rice.
♥️ Any type of fried rice.
♥️ Chicken fried rice.
♥️ Beef fried rice.
♥️ Vegetable fried rice(spicy).
♥️ Try the batu moju with various biryani rice
♥️ egg biryani (one-pot rice dish/stove-top).
♥️ Chicken biryani(Hyderabadi).
♥️ chicken pot Biryani.
How long do I fry the eggplant slices?
♥️ Fry them in smaller batches while keeping a steady heat so they gradually fry evenly.
♥️ What you are looking for is to have the eggplant fried to a deep brown.
How long can the eggplant pickle be stored?
♥️ Despite the pickle being a preservative I would say you can keep this for a week or two. the moju doesn’t last that long at our place though.
♥️ Instead of a glass bottle with a small mouth, use a plastic or glass container with a wide mouth and yes it needs to be refrigerated. make sure you use a dry spoon.
♥️ take a few spoons into a bowl and leave it out to reach room temp and consume
♥️ Storing- since you can refrigerate the eggplant for more than 2 weeks, store it in a dry glass container and use a dry spoon.
♥️ Freezing-since the brinjal moju is a pickle, I don’t think you would need to freeze the vegetable pickle just refrigerate.
♥️ Reheating- avoid reheating.
♥️ Stop food waste by you can avoid wasting as this brinjal pickle can be stored for a long period
Ingredients
♥️ The ingredients mentioned below use standard measuring cups and spoons.
♥️ 500g eggplant cut into thick strips(see notes above)
♥️ 1/2 teaspoon of turmeric powder
♥️ 2-3 cups of oil
♥️ 250g shallots
♥️ 100g medium-sized green chillies
♥️ 1 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste(2-3 garlic cloves and 1/2 inch ginger piece)
♥️ 1 tablespoon chilli powder
♥️ 1 and 1/2 tablespoon mustard powder(pound the mustard or use a grinder for this purpose)
♥️ 2 tablespoons of Sugar
♥️ 1/3 cup vinegar
♥️ Salt to season
Method
♥️ Have all the ingredients for the batu moju ready.
♥️ Cut the eggplant(500g)to the required size
♥️ Place the thick strips of eggplant in a bowl or a flat surface.
♥️ Add salt to season and turmeric(1/2 tsp)to the eggplants, combine, cover and leave it for 10 minutes
♥️ Place a frying pan over medium heat and pour in the oil.
♥️ Gradually increase heat for the oil to reach frying temperature.
♥️ Make sure you have a steady oil temperature, do not let it smoke, this would lead to burnt strips of eggplant.
♥️ If the oil does reach the smoking point, turn off the heat and start heating the oil again(after a few minutes of course).
♥️ Gently squeeze out any extra liquid off the eggplant strips.
♥️ Fry them until they turn dark in colour, you can either fry them until they turn golden in colour or a dark brown.
♥️ Place the fried eggplant/brinjal in paper towels to absorb oil.
♥️ You can also air fry the eggplant strips to make this Sri Lankan eggplant recipe.
♥️ Use the same oil to fry the shallots(250g)and green chillies (100g)for 1-2 minutes over low-medium fire
♥️ Place these with the brinjals on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil.
♥️ To a separate bowl, add mustard powder(1 and 1/2 tsp), ginger-garlic paste(1 tbs), salt to season, chilli powder(1 tbsp), sugar(2 tbsp), and vinegar(1/3 cup).
♥️ Combine well until sugar dissolves.
♥️ Taste the pickling sauce and see if there is a balance of taste between sour, sweet, and heat. adjust accordingly.
♥️ Add the shallots, and green chillies and combine well.
♥️ Add the fried aubergines/eggplant to the pickling onions and green chillies.
♥️ Set aside for at least 1-2 hours before serving for a better-tasting wambatu moju.
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