Greek Eggplant Fritters served with a simple yogurt and garlic dip. Meaty and filling loaded with flavors of sun-dried tomatoes, Feta + Kefalotyri cheese, basil, and walnuts!
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Eggplant is one of the best veggie substitutes for meat. It's meaty and sweet-savory at the same time. And that's why these eggplant patties taste as good as meat patties.
You can enjoy them as a starter, side dish, or main course wherever you want to substitute a meat pattie (like in a burger for example).
In Greek, we call them Melitzano-keftedes (eggplant-patties). Keftedes are usually fried meat patties but can also be cooked in the oven.
Preparing Eggplant
In this recipe for eggplant fritters, the eggplant is peeled, diced, soaked in water, and sauteed.
Peel the eggplant. When making eggplant fritters it is best to skin eggplant. Because eggplant skin is usually bitter. But also because we want the patties to have a soft texture inside.
Dice the eggplant. In most fritter recipes the vegetable gets grated (like in Zucchini Fritters for example) unlike this recipe where the eggplant gets finely diced. This is done because we want to feel the soft, meaty, and mellow texture of the eggplant.
Soak the eggplant. This ensures that any bitterness is removed and helps keep the eggplant firm by preventing it from soaking too much oil when sauteed.
Sautee the eggplant. By sauteeing the eggplant before turning it into fritters we make its flavor much stronger and the texture of the eggplant patties much softer. You need to allow the eggplant to cool though before mixing it with the other ingredients. Otherwise, if the eggplant is still warm it will absorb more flour than necessary.
Make The Fritters
To make the eggplant fritters combine the cooled sauteed eggplant with the onions, egg, sun-dried tomatoes, walnuts, fresh herbs (basil + parsley), and two types of cheese (Feta + Kefalotyri cheese). Lastly, mix in the flour in batches.
NOTE: You may need slightly less or more flour than what the recipe calls for. Simply add as much flour as needed for the fritters to be shapeable, but not firm. They will still feel slightly sticky. You will need to dust your hands slightly with flour to shape them.
Pan-fry
These fritters get pan-fried in olive oil. However, you may use any other frying or vegetable oil you prefer. I like the nutty earthy flavor of olive oil and it's what we mostly use in Greece.
Make sure to place the fritters on paper towels to drain after frying.
Serve With
This recipe for eggplant patties includes a simple and quick garlic dip. Yogurt and eggplant go amazing together. You can also try this delicious Yogurt Tahini Sauce. If you want to serve these as a main course try serving it with these Greek Fries With Feta they're so yummy!
You May Also Like These Other Eggplant Recipes:
- Roasted Greek Eggplant Dip (Melitzanosalata)
- Fried Eggplant Slices (Melitzanes Tiganites)
- Baked Eggplant With Tomatoes (Melitzanes Imam)
Recipe
Eggplant Fritters Recipe
Ingredients
For The Eggplant Fritters:
- olive oil
- 800 grams (1.7 pounds) eggplant
- 100 grams (1 cup) spring onions finely chopped
- 1 medium-sized egg
- 6-7 sun-dried tomatoes preserved in oil
- 80 grams (½ cup) feta cheese crumbled
- 40 grams (⅓ cup) Kefalotyri or Pecorino cheese grated
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil finely chopped (or use ½ tablespoon mint)
- 100 grams (⅔ cup) walnuts finely ground
- 300 grams ( 2 cups + 6 tablespoons) all-purpose flour you may need slightly more or less
For The Yogurt Dip:
- 150 grams (⅔ cup) Greek yogurt
- 1 teaspoon red wine or apple cider vinegar
- 1 garlic clove pressed
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Make the yogurt dip. Add the yogurt to a small bowl with the garlic. Season with salt and pepper. Stir well and then place in the fridge.
- Prepare the eggplant. Slice the top and bottom of the eggplant and peel the skins. Dice eggplant as finely as you can. Then add it to a bowl with cold water.
- Soak eggplant for 20 minutes. Then drain in a strainer.
- Heat a splash of olive oil in a frying pan or skillet over high heat.
- Cook the eggplant until it softens stirring occasionally. Season lightly with a bit of salt and pepper. Don't overcook to the point it gets mushy though. Transfer to a mixing bowl and allow to cool down to room temperature.
- Add the spring onions, egg, parsley, basil, walnuts, Feta and Kefalotyri cheese. Finely chop the sun-dried tomatoes and add to the bowl as well.
- Gradually mix in the flour until the mixture is thick enough to be shapeable. You may need a bit more or less than the amount of flour stated in the recipe ingredients above.
- Shape into 15 round balls and flatten them a bit with your hands. The mixture will be sticky so make sure to dust your hands with flour in order to shape them. Lay them on a plate or dish.
- Pan-fry. Coat the bottom of a non-stick frying pan or skillet with olive oil. Heat over high heat. Pan-fry the fritters in two batches. Drop the heat to medium-high if they color too quickly. Cook for 2-3 minutes on each side.
- Transfer on paper towels to remove excess oil.
- Serve warm with the Greek yogurt dip and enjoy!
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