Sri Lankan Eggplant Salad

Sri Lankan Eggplant salad is a simple yet flavorful mixture of deep-fried eggplant pieces with raw salad veggies and tangy and mildly sweet citrus dressing. Though it is a salad, this Sri-Lankan Eggplant salad is served as a refreshing side dish with rice and curry meals. To make it a healthy and guilt-free affair , I have Air-fried the eggplant pieces. The recipe is vegan and gluten-free.

Sri Lankan Cuisine:

Sri Lankan Cuisine is known for its particular combination of herbs, spices, fish, vegetables, rices and fruits. The central feature of Sri lankan Cuisine is boiled or steamed rice, served with meat or fish along with other curries with lentils, vegetables and fruits. Dishes are accompanied by pickled fruits or vegetables, chutneys and sambols. Curries are mostly made in coconut milk, which lends and creamy texture and flavorful taste like this Sri-Lankan Dhal Curry from my friend Priya's blog.

What goes into this Sri Lankan Eggplant Salad : The Ingredients:

• Eggplant: Deep-fried eggplant is the star ingredient of this salad. The interesting part about this salad is that all the other veggies except eggplants are used raw.
• Salad vegetables : I have used sliced red onions, sliced tomatoes, slit green chilies, cucumber and yellow bell pepper in this salad. I have roasted the bell peppers also in the Air-fryer.
• Salad Dressing: a simple yet refreshing dressing is made my mixing lemon juice, sugar and salt.
• Black pepper and chili flakes makes this salad all the more flavorful.

Dietary Notes:

This Sri-Lankan Air-fried Eggplant Salad is

• Vegan
• Gluten-free
• Side dish to rice
• Refreshing salad
• Healthy and delicious
• Kid friendly

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Servings -2 

Ingredients:

• 200 grams eggplants ( try to use the slender purple variety of eggplants)
• 1 large red onion sliced 
• 1 large tomato, de-seeded and sliced.
• 1 small cucumber cut into 2 inch pieces
• .1 small yellow bell pepper (optional)   
• 1-2 green chilies, slit
• 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
•  Salt to taste
•  1 tablespoon oil for brushing the eggplant pieces prior to Air-frying    

Method:                                                                                                                                             

1. Wash the eggplants thoroughly, pat them dry and chop them into 2 inch pieces. You may keep the chopped eggplant pices in a bowl of water to prevent discoloration. 
2. Once all the eggplants are chopped to pieces, drain and transfer them to a bowl and coat them with turmeric, salt and oil.
3. Arrange the eggplant pieces in a preheated Air-fryer basket in a single layer without overcrowding.
4. Air-fry the eggplant pieces for 5-7 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until they turn crisp and golden brown in color.
5. I air-fried the eggplant pieces in 2 batches and then roasted the sliced yellow bell peppers also in the Air fryer.
6. In a mixing bowl add sliced onions, slices and de seeded tomatoes, slit green chilies, cucumber pieces, roasted yellow bell pepper and Air-fried eggplant pieces.
7. Give it a good toss. Now, add sugar to juice of 1 lemon. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Now pour this dressing over the tossed veggies and eggplant pieces.     
8. Lastly add freshly ground black pepper and chili flakes over the salad and enjoy a flavorful treat.
9. You can serve this salad as a side dish with rice and curry meals.                                                                                                                 

Recipe Notes:

• You may use cherry tomatoes instead of the Roma tomatoes.
• Shallots may be used instead of red onions.
• Try to use the firm slender eggplant variety with less seeds for this recipe.
• Mix the Air-fried eggplants with other veggies just before serving.
• Adjust the chilies as per your spice tolerance.
• Honey can be used instead of sugar.
• Try to chop all the veggies in uniform sizes.

Would love to hear from you !

I hope you would love trying out this healthy and delicious Sri Lankan Eggplant Salad. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the section below this post.

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See you soon with yet another healthy and delicious creation from my Kitchen. Until then Stay safe and eat right !

 

Happy Cooking !

Happy Eating !

 

Regards

Poonam Bachhav 

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