Smoky Eggplant and Spinach Latkes

This recipe is my twist on a cultural favorite. It’s a delightful combination of Middle Eastern and Indian ingredients and methods. Besan flour, if you're not familiar with it, is chickpea flour. If you can't find it in your local market (it's becoming more common), you can order it online, or you can increase the all-purpose flour in the recipe. But...you'll miss out on all the great protein and extra flavor that the chickpea flour brings to the to these little beauties.

Developing this recipe took a bit of fiddling with ingredients and proportions. Recipes for these pancakes abound and they vary greatly. How many eggs? Some use chickpea flour, others use all-purpose flour. Chop or purée? How much spice?

This recipe, after all that fiddling, is fabulous, if I may say so myself.

I like using the chickpea flour for the added protein and flavor, especially if you're cooking for vegetarians, but all-purpose flour provided a better texture. I ultimately went with some of each.

I also went with pulsing, rather than puréeing the vegetables. Again, it's a texture thing.

For me, this is the right balance of spices, but feel free to adjust them to your own personal taste.

Sautéing some of the onion and garlic and then adding some to the batter raw made for a more complex flavor.

None of the recipes I found included smoked paprika, but I think it adds a nice touch.

In the end, I went completely rogue and added 1 medium potato, grated. Again, it's a textural thing.

You could try these savory little pancakes as a twist from potato latkes next Chanukah, but why wait? These latkes make a wonderful vegetarian first course or side dish at any time of year. Or serve them with an interesting pilaf as a main course. The creamy, smoky eggplant, combined with the flavors of both caramelized and grated onions, the sautéed spinach, and the warm spices are tender on the inside and crispy on the outside. And they just might be a way to get otherwise resistant kids to eat their vegetables.

The recipe makes 14 latkes. Or, make them smaller and serve them as hors d’oeuvres. They totally work as finger food. They don’t really need anything, but serving them with Indian tamarind sauce for dipping works wonderfully well.

Smoky Eggplant and Spinach Latkes

Ingredients:

It's easy if you get everything organized (mise en place) before you start.

• 1 large Italian eggplant (about 1 pound), roasted and peeled (see instructions below)

• 2 cloves garlic, minced (divided use)

• 1 medium onion, finely chopped

  • 1 teaspoon salt

  • ½ teaspoon black pepper

  • 1 tablespoon fresh minced ginger

  • 3/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

  • 3/4 teaspoon ground cumin

  • 3/4 teaspoon ground coriander

  • 3/4 teaspoon ground fenugreek

  • 1 teaspoon turmeric

  • 1 teaspoon red chili powder or sweet paprika or a combo, depending upon how much heat you like

  • 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 5 ounces fresh spinach, coarsely chopped

• ½ cup besan (chickpea) flour

• 1 cup all-purpose flour

• 1 medium potato, peeled and grated

• 1/4 cup onion, finely grated

• 1/4 cup chopped flat leaf parsley

• 2 large eggs

• optional: a pinch, or more, of cayenne pepper

• Neutral oil (such as avocado or sunflower), for frying

Method:

• The best way to prepare the eggplant is on gas stove or a grill. But, if you don't have either at your disposal, not to fret. You can achieve excellent results by roasting it in the oven—it will just have a little less of that smoky flavor. Here’s how to do it…

  • Poke a few holes in the eggplant to give the steam an escape route, which will keep your eggplant from exploding.

  • Lay it directly on the biggest burner on your stove and turn on the fire to medium. Using tongs, turn the eggplant every so often and move it about on the burner to make sure that the entire thing is roasted. When the skin is charred and the eggplant is collapsing, it's done. You can stab it with a fork to make sure it's cooked all the way through. Note: If you line the stovetop with foil, leaving only the burner exposed, you won't be cursing me later.

  • Or...

  • Preheat your grill (coal, gas, and electric all work fine) and get it good and hot.

  • Poke a few holes in the eggplant to give the steam an escape route, which will keep your eggplant from exploding. Set the grate to the lowest level and place the eggplant directly on the rack. Using tongs, turn the eggplant every so often to make sure it cooks evenly on all sides. When the skin is charred and turning to ash, and the vegetable is collapsing, your eggplant is done.

  • Or

  • Preheat your oven to 400°. Poke a few holes in the eggplant to give the steam an escape route, which will keep your eggplant from exploding. Set the eggplant directly on the oven rack— you might want to line the lower rack with foil to catch the drips—and roast it until its soft and collapsing, about 30 minutes.

• Use tongs to transfer your roasted eggplant to a cutting board. When it's cool enough to handle, peel away the skin (It's ok if some bits of skin remain).

• Meanwhile, add a generous glug of olive oil to a skillet and add the chopped onion. Sauté until the onion is soft and translucent. Then, add 1 clove of the garlic and all the spices and continue to sauté until the onion is nicely caramelized.

• Add the chopped spinach and cook until the spinach is wilted, then remove the pan from the heat. (if you need another glug of oil, go for it)

• Add the contents of the skillet to a food processor and pulse until everything is combine well and finely chopped—stop just short of puréeing.

• Then, transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add the besan flour, the all-purpose flour, the eggs, the grated onion, the grated potato, and the second clove of garlic. Add the chopped parsley and mix well. Taste a bit of the batter on the tip of your tongue and adjust the salt if needed.           

• Preheat the oven to 200°.

• Prepare a baking sheet by placing a drying rack on top of it and slide the pan with the rack into the oven.

• Heat the neutral oil in a deep pan over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, drop the batter by 1/4 cup-fulls into the pan and flatten them out a bit, leaving enough room between them to turn them easily. When they begin to turn golden on the edges and the center starts to set, lift one carefully to check the color. Turn the latkes when the bottoms are nice and golden, then brown them on the other side. As each batch is done, set them on the prepared pan in the oven to keep them warm while the rest of the latkes fry. You'll probably need to add more oil between batches.

• Drain the latkes on paper towels and serve. They can be reheated in a 300° oven, in a single layer. They don’t take long. Keep an eye on them so that they don’t burn.

Quick Tamarind Sauce

Ingredients:

• ½ teaspoon fennel seeds

• 2 cups water

• ½ cup jaggery or coconut sugar, to taste

• ¼ cup tamarind sauce

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ½ teaspoon ground cumin

• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger

• ½ teaspoon garam masala

Method:

• Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to boil, then simmer until reduced by about half.

• Strain into a small bowl for serving.