Hi Everyone,
I cannot take credit for this idea. I first heard of Cheese Biganee from one of my cousins a couple of months ago. He told me that his neighbour makes it. Of course, I was immediately intrigued, so into the kitchen I headed, to experiment.
Biganee is thin slices of eggplant/bolanger/bigan dipped in a spiced split-pea batter and deep fried. It is one of the savoury snacks made especially during the celebration of Phagwah. I think that these days you can find Biganee being sold as a regular snack just as you can Phulourie, Egg ball or Cassava ball. Actually, the batter used to make Phulourie is what is used to coat the eggplant to make Biganee. Eaten with lashings of mango sour, Biganee is deliciously savoury. If you are not careful, you can find yourself overeating.
The cheese version of Biganee is this – grated cheese sprinkled over the Biganee as soon as it comes out of the frying pan and topped with a drizzle of ketchup so that when the Biganee cools, the cheese and ketchup become the top crust for the Biganee. Sounds good doesn’t it? It is; give it a try and serve it as an appetizer the next time you are entertaining or simply as an afternoon or tea snack.