Fried eggplant with tomatoes are the easiest side dish. Top with an easy homemade yogurt sauce and serve with your favorite dish. This is an easy side dish that's vegan and gluten-free as well.
If you love eggplant recipes and are looking for new ways to make eggplants, this is going to be your new favorite recipe. Eggplant is such a versatile vegetable that you can make in many different ways, from Turkish stuffed eggplant (karniyarik) and eggplant caponata to Greek eggplant dip and moussaka. This recipe is an easy recipe that you can make as a simple meal or when you have friends over.
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Turkish fried eggplant (Kizartmis patlican)
This is a classic Turkish appetizer or side dish that people usually make at home. Sometimes, fried green peppers are also added to the dish. Kizartmis means fried and patlican means eggplant. Turkish people love to serve it as a side dish to grilled meat because it's very simple to make and the flavors compliment each other pretty well.
Ingredients
- Eggplant: It's best to get shiny eggplants that feel heavy for their size. These eggplants would have very few seeds in them.
- Oil for frying: It's best to use avocado oil, canola oil or extra virgin olive oil. You want the oil to be hot enough to look shimmery but not smoking.
- Tomatoes and garlic: I used roma tomatoes in this recipe but you can also use cherry tomatoes. The garlic is sliced and once fried in oil, it adds so much flavor to the dish.
Instructions
- Salt the eggplant: Slice the eggplant and place them on a baking sheet. Generously sprinkle with salt and let it sit to "sweat". This would take about 45 minutes to one hour.
- Fry: Once the eggplants have sweated out the liquid, pat dry them with a paper towel completely. Heat olive oil in a pan and fry the eggplants for about 4 minutes on each side until they are golden and fully cooked.
- Fry the tomatoes: Take the eggplants out of the pan and heat some more oil in the same pan. Cut the tomatoes in half and fry them for about 3 minutes on each side until charred and cooked.
- Fry the garlic: Heat some oil in a pan over medium heat. Thinly slice the garlic cloves and fry them in the oil until golden and crispy.
- Assemble: Place the fried eggplants on a platter and top them with the tomatoes and crispy garlic. Serve with the easy yogurt sauce.
How do you keep fried eggplants from getting soggy?
Eggplants get soggy if they contain too much oil after cooking. Make sure you fry the eggplants on a medium high heat and not low heat and place them on a kitchen paper towel to get rid of the excess oil.
Serving suggestions
Essentially,this dish is served with a simple yogurt sauce made with yogurt, salt and dried mint. You can also serve it with our homemade tahini sauce if you like.
It makes a wonderful side dish to dishes such as beef shish kabob, garlic chicken or shish tawook. You can also serve it with some Turkish bulgur pilaf as a complete vegetarian dinner.
Frequently asked questions
Almost any kind of eggplants would work in this recipe. I have made this recipe using Italian eggplants and globe eggplants. You can also use graffiti eggplant for this recipe. If using Chinese eggplant, peel them in strips and cut them in half lengthwise. Then proceed with the recipe.
While raw eggplant doesn't freeze well, fried eggplant freezes beautifully. My mom used to have fried eggplant in the freezer for Persian eggplant stew and she would use it regularly. Once the eggplant is at room temperature, place the slices in a freezer bag and freeze for up to three months. To use, thaw them in the fridge overnight and then heat them with a drizzle of olive oil in a non stick pan.
To fry vegetables, you need a type of oil that has a higher smoking point. I suggest using extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil for frying. Keep in mind that the oil shouldn't smoke when it comes to frying. It simply needs to be hot and shiny.
If the it is fresh and the skin is not too thick, I suggest you keep it. I used fresh Italian eggplants that have very thick skin and I kept them on for a pop of color as well. Since we are frying the eggplants until they're soft, they're easier to flip and handle with the skin on.
Notes and tips
- You can definitely make air fried eggplant slices for this recipe. Brush both sides of the eggplants with olive oil and place them in the air fryer basket. Make sure not to overcrowd the basket. Air fry the eggplant at 400ºF for 18 minutes, flip the slices halfway through. I don't recommend air frying the tomatoes and garlic.
- Serve this dish with a plain yogurt sauce for more flavor. Simply mix one cup plain yogurt, salt and dried mint in a small bowl and drizzle it over the eggplants and tomatoes.
- This recipe is heavy on garlic and perfect for garlic lovers. If you're not a garlic fan, you can reduce the amount mentioned in the recipe.
- It's important to keep an eye on the oil and not to overheat it. You don't want the oil to be smoking, but simply get hot and shiny.
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Step-by-Step Recipe
Fried Eggplant Recipe with Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 Italian eggplants
- 5 tablespoon olive oil divided
- 4 roma tomatoes
- 4 cloves garlic peeled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper
- ¼ cup fresh parsley chopped
Yogurt sauce
- 1 cup plain yogurt
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried mint
Instructions
- Wash the eggplants and slice them into ½-inch thick pieces.
- Place the eggplants on a baking sheet and generously sprinkle with salt on both sides. Let the eggplant sit for 45 minutes to one hour to "sweat out" the bitter liquid.
- Pat dry the eggplants on both sides with kitchen paper towel. Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a non stick pan over medium heat.
- Once the oil is shimmery, fry the eggplant slices for about 4 minutes on each side until golden and cooked. If your pan is small, fry the eggplants in batches.
- Take the eggplants out of the pan and place them on a kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil.
- Cut the roma tomatoes in half. Heat one tablespoon olive oil in the same pan.
- Fry the tomatoes for 2 minutes on each side. Set them aside.
- In a small pan, heat the remaining one tablespoon olive oil. Thinly slice the garlic cloves. Fry the garlic slices until golden and crispy.
- Place the fried eggplants in a platter and top them with fried tomatoes and fried garlic.
- Serve with yogurt sauce.
Yogurt sauce
- Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. Serve with fried eggplant.
Video
Notes
- You can use any type of eggplant such as globe and graffiti for this recipe.
- Don't skip salting the eggplants, this step will make the eggplant more delicious and will also result in using less oil.
- To fry the eggplants, you can use olive oil or avocado oil.
- You can also freeze this dish. Once the fried eggplant is at room temperature, place the slices in a freezer bag and freeze for up to three months. To use, thaw them in the fridge overnight and then heat them with a drizzle of olive oil in a non stick pan.
Beth
This is so delicious and very tasty! I’m so excited to make this again. My hubby and I loved this with our dinner and it’s one of our favorites!
Kristen Wood
I love the addition of Aleppo pepper and mint in this dish! So delicious!! 🙂
Mahy
This is absolutely my favorite side dish! Definitely the recipe to keep handy for this summer!
Sara Welch
I love a delicious eggplant recipe and this was no exception! Easy, hearty and packed with flavor!
Claudia Lamascolo
I am a huge fan of eggplant and this recipe was one of the best I ever made great recipe!
Monica
Simply delicious! We ate the recipe as a main dish with the yogurt sauce. Love, love, love!
Beth
Oh, this is beautiful! I know you said it's a side dish but I could eat this as a main dish - so delicious!
Taylor
This dish is so fresh and flavorful! We loved it!