Air Fried Baby Eggplant

 

I fell in love with these baby eggplants yesterday when I was at the Farmers Market at Monroeville, PA.  They were so cute.  I googled what to do with them and settled for a grilled recipe. I decided to grill them in my air fryer.  I tweaked the recipe by adding garlic powder and using half the amount of dry pepper flakes but you can opt for the larger amount listed below.  

I did it in two batches and ate the whole first batch of six eggplants.  I was shocked to see the main plate empty so I prepared a second batch.  The inside is soft and the outside skin was crisp.  The cilantro, salt and the squeeze of lemon you add to the air fried eggplant make this side dish or appetizer even more addictive.

Air Fried Baby Eggplant

6-8 baby eggplants

1/4 to 1/2 tsp dry chili flakes

1 tsp cumin powder

1 tsp coriander powder

1 tsp garlic powder

salt

bunch of cilantro, chopped

1/2 lemon

Preheat the air fryer to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and 10 minutes setting.

Mix the chili flakes, cumin , coriander and garlic powder on a cutting board and spread out the mixture.

Cut the eggplants in half.  Spray them with cooking spray.

Place the eggplant cut side down on the spice mixture spread out in the cutting board and push them so the spice mixture sticks on their surface.

Air fry them cut side up in the preheated air fryer for 10 minutes.

Sprinkle salt on the cut side of the air fried eggplant.  Squeeze the juice of half a lemon  and sprinkle chopped cilantro on top.  

Enjoy.