[Sca-cooks] What's going on here?

[kattratt]

I haven't done this recipe but I have done very similar with zucchinis..
(Sp?)
So My suggestion on it is more oil, so you get sort of a deep frying
type cooking thing going this would cook the sides as well as the bottom,
or As you suspected using more Bread crumbs and eggs,
This will yield a thicker batter. If you use to many bread crumbs though
you will end up with cakes or patties... (ever had Salmon Patties?)
It sounds to me that you might be thinking more battery....like a
pancake... I would think it would be more like a fritter.
I think of a pancake as more of a "Fine flour"  batter type thing rather
than a Bread Crumb type thing.
Re-reading this recipe I notice that there is NO Milk or anything to
make it like a batter...

So I would add more bread crumbs and egg, just to thicken this to a
patty like texture.
Then flatten it and either deep fry it (Maybe sort of like flattened
hush puppies?) or pan fry it...(Like salmon patties)

Just my $ .02 worth,
Nichola

Vincent Cuenca wrote:

> As part of the initial planning for this feast, I was monkeying around
> with
> a recipe from Cariadoc's Miscellany this weekend, and I'm not quite sure
> what happened.  The recipe is as follows:
>
> Recipe of Eggplant Pancakes
>
> al-Andalusi p. C-5
>
> Get sweet eggplant and boil it with water and salt until it becomes well
> cooked and is dissolved or falling apart. You should drain the water,
> crush
> and stir it on a dish with crumbs of grated bread, eggs beaten with oil,
> dried coriander and cinnamon; beat it until all becomes equal. Afterwards
> fry cakes made with this batter in a frying pan with oil until they are
> gilded. Make a sauce of vinegar, oil, almori, and mashed garlic; give all
> this a shaking and pour it over the top.
>
> Sounds tasty, don't it?  Here's the redaction from Cariadoc's site:
>
> 1 large eggplant (1 lb 3 oz)
> ~2 qts water
> ~2 t salt
> 1/2 c bread crumbs
> 2-3 eggs
> 1 T oil
> 1 1/4 t coriander
> 1 1/2 t cinnamon
> 2 T vinegar
> 2 T oil
> 2 t murri
> 2 large clove garlic
> about 6 T oil for frying
>
> Peel and quarter eggplant, boil 30 minutes. Drain, mash and mix with
> bread
> crumbs, eggs, oil, coriander and cinnamon. Crush garlic in a garlic press
> and mix up sauce. Fry in oil at medium high, about 1-2 minutes a side.
> Pour
> sauce over pancakes before serving.
>
> Instead of boiling the eggplants, I salted them, let them sit for a
> while,
> then rinsed them and nuked them.  I used 2 large eggs, subbed cheap soy
> sauce for the murri, but otherwise followed the instructions.
>
> The pancakes wouldn't hold together.  Even on a nonstick pan, they acted
> more like a souffle.  I couldn't turn them or even scrape them up without
> their falling apart.  I ended up scrambling them.  They were light,
> fluffy
> and delicious, but not pancakes.
>
> Should I have used more eggs?  Added more breadcrumbs to stiffen the
> mixture?  Whatcha think?  They're really good, and I'd like to be able to
> serve them at the feast.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Vicente