Ingredients

• 1 large Japanese/purple eggplant (about 6 oz)
• 1 large potato (about 8 oz)
• 1 medium red onion (about 6 oz)
• About ¼ cup sesame seed oil
• ¾ teaspoon Sri Lankan chili powder
• Salt to taste
• 3 – 4 dried red chili broken into 3 pieces
• 1 pittu recipe (for 2 people)

Method

• Peel potatoes and quarter them lengthwise.  Then thinly slice them
• After cutting potatoes, wash them thoroughly.  This removes the starch from the potatoes.  Otherwise when frying, the potatoes will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn
• Add ¼ teaspoon chili powder and salt and mix thoroughly
• Heat a kadai/deep frying pan and add sesame seed oil.  When the oil is hot add potatoes and fry until golden brown
• While potatoes are frying, wash eggplant and split lengthwise.  Then thinly slice them
• Add ¼ teaspoon chili powder and salt and mix well
• Once the potatoes are done remove them from frying pan and drain.
• Add sliced eggplants to the same frying pan in the remaining oil and fry until crisp and lightly browned
• Meanwhile peel and chop onion into small pieces
• Add ¼ teaspoon chili powder and salt and mix well
• Once the eggplants are done, drain them. At this point if there is not enough oil, add a little bit – about 1 tablespoon and let it heat a bit
• Add chopped onion to the frying pan and fry until golden brown
• Once the onion is done, drain them.
• At this point if there is too much oil in the frying pan, remove everything except 1 teaspoon
• Add broken red chilies and fry for about 30 seconds
• Now add all the fried vegetables, pittu and mix well

Yields: 2 – 3 servings