Hungry and its lunchitime in St. Helena

Pholourie, Saheena, Baiganee and Kuchorie make a mouth full. A meal for breakfast, lunch, dinner or a snack, either way, you would not be hungry after having two or even three of them, except for pholourie, of which you would have to have about ten or more of those little round orbs in order to be satisfied.

These Indian delicacies are common snack food found all around the country. There is a diverse array of food in St. Helena. It is lunchtime, I am hungry and all I am craving for is Baiganee. Some people called it a snack, but if you have two or three Baiganees, you can make it a meal for lunch or any other meal. The best thing about it is the fact that these snacks are easy on the pocket, a meal for under 20 dollars and that includes a drink.

Baiganee
Baiganee is a vegetarian delight made with baigan also known as melongene or eggplant, cut thin, dipped in a split peas batter and fried. It is served with channa, sweet sauce (mango, tamarind or pommecythere chutney) and pepper, all optional, you can decide if you want it with channa or not or just with sweet sauce only, heavy, slight or no pepper at all. It is entirely up to your taste and preference.

A mother and daughter team, Fatty and Pinky have been selling these snacks for about two years or more. Fatty could not remember when they started; she said that they wanted to work for themselves and wanted to work close to home, so they did a quick survey and assessed the area. They recognised that there were so many doubles vendors in St. Helena so they wanted to do something different from the rest. Her family knew how to make Saheena, Baiganee and the other snacks really well so they decided to let this work for them. That was the genesis of the business.  Although they opened at eleven in the morning, their day begin at 4 am as they have to do their chores, prep for the days' delights and ensure everything is in order to be ready for their customers and to be on time, every time.  As Fatty said consistency is the name of the game.

If you love eggplant and never had Baiganee before, try it!. It is very good, I love these snacks and if you are a vegan, then this is a perfect meal for you, you will just love it.

See photos here!

Find out more about Baiganee and how to make this delicious snack

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