DISH RESEARCH · Side dish
Wambatu Moju
The selected wambatu moju is fried eggplant, shallot and green chilli dressed in a sweet-sour mustard, ginger-garlic, chilli, sugar and vinegar mixture.
About Wambatu Moju
Research draft based on the references below. These notes describe particular recipes and presentations; ingredient connections are still being reviewed.
Wambatu moju is an eggplant pickle or relish, also called batu moju and brinjal moju. Jehan Yusoof’s selected Sri Lankan-style recipe combines fried eggplant strips, shallots and green chillies with a sweet, sour and spicy mustard-vinegar mixture.
The eggplant is cut into thick strips, seasoned with salt and turmeric and rested covered. Excess native liquid is gently squeezed out before the strips are deep-fried until dark brown and laid on paper towels to drain.
The same frying oil cooks the shallots and green chillies briefly. They join the fried eggplant on the paper-towel-lined surface while the pickling mixture is prepared separately.
Mustard is pounded or ground into the listed powder, then mixed with ginger-garlic paste, salt, chilli powder, sugar and vinegar. The sugar is stirred until dissolved and the sweet-sour-heat balance adjusted.
The fried shallots and green chillies are mixed into that same pickling mixture, followed by the fried eggplant. The relish rests before serving; this selected presentation uses ready plain white rice alongside.
Ingredients in Wambatu Moju
Recorded ingredient connections, rather than a complete recipe. Explore an ingredient for more detail.
- Vinegarsauce
- Eggplantbase
- Onionseasoning
- Garlicseasoning
- Dried red chilesseasoning
- Vegetable Oilcooking medium
- Saltseasoning
- Mustard Seedseasoning
- Gingerseasoning
- Sugarsweetener
Ingredient connections awaiting review. Versions and preparation vary.
Origins & food traditions
Explore the countries and cooking traditions associated with this dish. These connections do not establish a single birthplace or limit where the dish is eaten today.
Countries
Cuisines & regions
Associations in the cited sources
These describe source-specific cultural or geographic connections. Catalogue links may still need review.
- Cooking traditions
- Sri Lankan