Berenjenas con miel

Ingredients

• 2Eggplantcut into thin slices or sticks
• 4¼ ozwheat flourfor dredging or for the batter
• 2eggsbeaten, for batter or coating
• ⅔ cupbeerat room temperature, for a light batter (optional)
• ½ cupolive oilextra virgin, for pan-frying
• 3 tbspHoneybee honey or sugarcane molasses (miel de caña), for drizzling
• saltfor drawing bitterness from the eggplant and for seasoning
• black pepperfreshly ground (optional)
• 2 tbspparsleyfinely chopped, for garnish (optional)

Method

1. Slice and salt the eggplantCut the eggplant into thin slices or sticks. To draw out any bitterness, salt them generously with sea salt and leave them in a colander for about 30 minutes to sweat, then rinse. Alternatively, soak the pieces in salted water for 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Dry and seasonPat the eggplant thoroughly dry with paper towels so the oil doesn't spit later and the coating turns out crisp. Then season lightly with salt and, if you like, freshly ground black pepper.
3. Prepare the batter or coatingNow decide whether you're going with beer or without. With beer, whisk the beaten eggs, the flour and the room-temperature beer into a smooth, light batter. Without beer, put the flour in one shallow dish and the beaten eggs in a second one, so your coating station is ready to go.
4. Heat the oilHeat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. You want it hot, but not smoking.
5. Coat in batter or flour and eggIf you've made the beer batter, dip the eggplant in the batter and let the excess drip off well so the coating stays thin. Without beer, dredge the eggplant in flour first, shake off the excess, then draw it through the beaten eggs and let it drip briefly.
6. Fry in batches until goldenFry the eggplant in batches, in a single layer, for 1 to 3 minutes per side until golden. Don't crowd the pan, or the oil cools down and the pieces soak it up.
7. Drain wellLift the finished eggplant onto paper towels or a wire rack to drain briefly while the next batch is frying.
8. Finish with honeyFinish with a little more salt, drizzle with the honey, scatter over finely chopped parsley if you're using it, and serve right away while they're still crackling.

Tips and variations

Instead of bee honey, try sugarcane molasses (miel de caña), with its darker, slightly bitter sweetness. For the batter you can swap the wheat flour for chickpea flour. Cut into fry-shaped sticks and dipped in the beer batter, the eggplant turns into eggplant fries. For the simplest version, skip the batter and the egg altogether and just dredge the eggplant in flour. The flour-and-egg coating, on the other hand, gives a slightly sturdier crust than the airy beer batter. To take the bitterness out, you can also soak the eggplant in milk, or in salted water with a little flour stirred in. To serve, crumble some goat cheese over the top with the parsley and carry everything straight from the pan to the tapas table.