Curried Eggplant Strudel
Submitted by Crackpot
Curried eggplant strudel wrapped in crispy phyllo with saffron, cumin, peanuts, and tomatoes. Baked golden and served with cool yogurt. A stunning Indian-meets-Viennese fusion.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
20 minCOOK
40 minREADY
1 hrsIndian spices meet Viennese technique in this eggplant strudel that’s as striking to look at as it is to eat. A curried filling of diced eggplant simmered with saffron, cumin, chili powder, tomatoes, and roasted peanuts gets rolled inside layers of buttered phyllo and baked until shattering-crisp and golden.
Salting and squeezing the eggplant before cooking removes bitter liquid and concentrates the flesh so it absorbs the spice mixture like a sponge. The vinegar and saffron combination creates a sweet-sour tang that pulls all the warm spices together.
Four individual strudels roll out of this recipe. The phyllo layers, each brushed with clarified butter, puff and separate in the hot oven into dozens of flaky, crackly sheets around the soft, fragrant filling. A cool dollop of plain yogurt on top provides the contrast that ties everything together.
Pro Tips
- Salt and squeeze the eggplant. This step is non-negotiable for the right texture. Skip it and you’ll have a watery filling that makes the phyllo soggy.
- Cool the filling completely before rolling. Hot filling melts the butter in the phyllo layers, making them stick together instead of staying separate and flaky.
- Work fast with phyllo. It dries out quickly and becomes brittle. Keep unused sheets covered with a damp towel while you assemble each strudel.
- Clarified butter, not regular. The milk solids in whole butter burn at phyllo baking temperatures. Clarified butter stays clean and golden.
Variations
- Cashew swap: Replace peanuts with toasted cashews for a richer, creamier nut flavor.
- Add chickpeas: Fold in ½ cup drained chickpeas for more body and protein in the filling.
- Mango chutney topping: Serve with a spoonful of mango chutney alongside the yogurt for a sweeter, fruitier garnish.
Ingredients
Directions
Toss the eggplant with the salt and set aside for 30 minutes.
Wrap in a towel and squeeze out any excess moisture.
Set aside.
In a skillet, sauté the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until soft, about 2 minutes.
Add the garlic, curry powder, cumin and chili powder, and cook 2 more minutes.
Add the reserved eggplant, tomatoes and sugar.
Mix the saffron into the vinegar and add to mixture.
Simmer for 15 minutes, until the eggplant is soft.
Add a bit of water if the mixture should become too dry.
Add the peanuts and cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).
Place a sheet of phyllo on a clean work surface and drizzle lightly with clarified butter.
Layer five more sheets, drizzling a bit more butter atop each layer.
Brush the top layer with butter.
Place a quarter of the filling over the sheets, mounding more of it along one of the longer sides.
Roll the sheets up jelly roll-style, starting at the edge with the mounded filling.
Place seam-side down on a greased sheet pan and brush with more clarified butter.
Make three more strudels using the rest of the phyllo and the remaining filling and butter.
On sheet pans, bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes, moving the pans front to back and top to bottom halfway through.
Let rest for 10 minutes before serving.
Cut the strudel in 1-inch-thick slices and top with yogurt.
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