I want to deep fry some. There are lots of recipes for batters online. Too many. I’d like to hear from some Dopers and their tried & true batter recipe and oil temp.
Are fried green tomatoes made about the same way?
Sorry I don’t know how they are prepared, but we just got back from the Monterey County Fair - a visit not complete unless I have some deep-fried artichoke hearts - soooo good.
Yeah, those Monterey area festivals can deep fry anything and make it good.
No recipe at this point, but make sure you salt your eggplant and let it drain before cooking. This removes the bitter taste.
Soak the eggplant in brine, or sprinkle with salt and rinse? Peel or no peel?
I can’t help with the soaking, but here’s my coating method for deep frying. You’ll need flour, egg, vegetable oil, and cracker crumbs (the stuff in the box works fine).
Dredge veggie in flour.
Dip in mixture of beaten egg and oil (2 eggs, 2 tbsp oil).
Dip in crumbs.
This works for meat and fish too.
I don’t mind the bitter taste (and, depending on the eggplant, there may not be that much), so I don’t bother with the soak. But my standard deep-fry coating is the same as above, except I don’t use oil in the eggs. I have a plate of flour, a plate or bowl of two or three beaten eggs, and bread crumbs seasoned with salt pepper. Dip in flour, dip in egg, dip in crumbs, set aside. When your first batch is ready, dump 'em into 375F oil (don’t crowd the pot), and remove when golden brown.
Although, I should add, this is not battered, but rather breaded.
try this: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/vegetable-tempura-recipe/index.html
(funny that Alton Brown hasn’t done tempura, apparently)
Battered veggies are too heavy. Just use an egg wash and some cornmeal or breadcrumbs.
I feel bad disagreeing with Chefguy and for years I did just like he said. I would salt the eggplant, put it in a colander, and press it to drain the liquid, rinsing before cooking.
Now I just cut it into chunks, marinate in olive oil, apple cider vinegar and seasonings, and grill it over an open flame. I don’t notice any bitterness. I don’t know if the marinade removes it, or the bitterness drips out on the grill, but no bitterness at all.
This isn’t what you are looking for, but it’s a great recipe. Cut eggplant into chunks and salt it. Then deep fry until golden. Fry this up with some onions and add salt, sugar, and lemon juice. The result is greasy, sweet, sour and wonderful.
I’ve never done eggplant, but I fry squash and zucchini in a batter that’s half flour and half cornmeal, with salt and pepper, moistened with milk or buttermilk.
I’m deep frying now. The batter mix seems to stick much better to the eggplant than the zucchini, but it’s all coming out okay. The zukes just aren’t thoroughly battered.
I use a tempura batter for deep fried zucchini: 1 cup flour, one cup ice water, one egg. I like to add a sprinkle of garlic pepper to the batter. It turns out light and crispy. I have used the same recipe for cauliflower. AFAIK fried green tomatoes are dredged in flour and pan-fried.
Try deep frying a hardboiled egg dipped in batter. Ummmm…chlorestoral city.
I don’t deep fry often, but when I do, I’ll deep fry anything. I want to deep fry everything. Cats: take note. 
The problem is getting batter to stick to various things (don’t worry, I don’t really mean the cats). Flour-egg-bread crumbs didn’t do it for the zukes.
Use Japanese eggplants, they are not bitter and salty eggplant is yuck!!
I like to cook these tempura style.
If that’s not already at the Minnesota State Fair, it should be. On a stick.
My mom always uses egg wash and cracker crumbs and pan-fries zucchini, etc. I bet tempura would be good, though.
Believe it or not, I got the concept from a cookbook on macrobiotic cooking!
Honestly, I prefer deep-fried eggplant without any batter at all.