My wonderful husband decided to guest post on the blog. He wanted to share one of his childhood favorite iftar recipes. He actually wrote part of the beguni recipe last year, but it never made it to the blog. Welcoming Ali as a guest blogger. Let’s hear what he has to say about his favorite Ramadan recipe.
One of my fondest childhood Ramadan memory is the smell coming out of our kitchen just before Iftar. My mom would be frying something or the other for Iftar. Yes, you are right, eating fried food for Iftar is not that healthy! Then again, who is counting calories when you have fasted the entire day? Growing up, there were always two Iftar items that we took it for granted – Piyaju and Beguni.
I think I can barely recall any Iftar without these two Bangladeshi iftar must haves. My mom would spend a substantial time in the kitchen preparing for Iftar, frying and putting them into one of those large strainers.
My wife and I struggle to cook for the 3 of us for Ramadan. The thought of preparing piyaju, beguni and other Bangladeshi Iftar delicacies everyday make our bone chill! We still try to make Bangladeshi iftar, if not every day, at least for few days a week. I am getting to understand and appreciate the hard work my mom has been putting up for so many years making the Iftar we took for granted. Thank you ammu(mom).
Beguni happens to be my 6 year old’s favorite Ramadan food. Whenever we go to the grocery with her, she would look into those purple eggplants neatly stacked at the store shelf and out of the blue she would ask “baba can you make Beguni please?” So I had to go through a lot of practice to get to the recipe which is –
- Edible
- Looks good and
- Fast and repeatable.
After few trials, not by means of statistical outcome, one day the beguni that I made turned out to be really good (Lail and our daughter’s word not mine!). From that day on, making beguni became part of my responsibility for Ramadan. My wife and daughter both love the crunchy treats, especially for Iftar. Today I am sharing the easy and fast recipe. Hope you try it sometimes.
Enjoy!
- ½ medium Eggplant. Look for fresh produce.
- 1 cup oil
- ½ cup Besan,
- ⅙ cup all-purpose flour
- ¾ tsp garlic minced or pressed,
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp of red red chilli powder (add more if you would like it spicy)
- ¼ tsp of cumin powder
- 1¼ cup of water
- Cut the eggplant in two halves, and then make thin slices, about a quarter of an inch thickness for each.
- Heat a cup of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Beguni should be deep fried. If your skillet it big, you may need more oil.
- In a large bowl, using a fork mix besan, flour, garlic paste, salt, baking powder, and chilli powder.
- Once thoroughly mixed, add one third of the water and mix to make a paste. Add half the remaining water, mix well. Add the remainder water to make it a thick paste.
- Dip each eggplant slices in the batter. Flip over few times for uniform spread of the batter.
- Add the battered slices in the hot oil and fry in medium heat.
- Once browned (takes about 3 to 5 minutes), flip and cook the other side. Use a strainer to transfer to a plate lined with paper towel.
- Enjoy!
While frying, try not to put too many slices in the skillet. For best quality, please make sure slices are not touching others.
Thank you for visiting With A Spin. We hope you enjoy your stay here! Let us know what you think. Leave a comment or question.