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    Home / Side Dish / Brinjal Moju

    Brinjal Moju

    Crisp fried eggplant tossed in a sweet-sour onion pickle with chilies, mustard seeds, and a long soak in spiced vinegar.

    ⏱ 20 minPrep time
    🔥 25 minCook time
    🍽 6Servings
    🏷 Side DishCategory
    ☆☆☆☆☆No ratings yet
    Brinjal Moju - fried eggplant in sweet-sour onion pickle

    Brinjal moju is a sweet-sour eggplant pickle that shows up inside the lamprais parcel and on festive rice tables across Sri Lanka. It is part of the island’s Malay and Dutch Burgher inheritance, a dish built on fried eggplant and an aggressively flavored vinegar syrup. It is sharp, sticky, and a little bit fierce, and it tastes even better after a day in the jar, when the syrup has soaked into every piece. It is one of the curries that makes a lamprais parcel worth unwrapping.

    Chef Emily presents Brinjal Moju

    Sweet, sour, and sticky with fried eggplant

    The eggplant stays crisp on the edges and melting within, glazed in a syrupy vinegar dressing that is sweet, tangy, and gently hot. Onions and green chilies soften into the pickle, and mustard seeds pop between your teeth. Spoon it over rice, tuck it into a curry plate, or eat it straight from the bowl, it can take all three. It keeps for weeks in the fridge, so a batch is never wasted.

    Craving more? Explore all Sri Lankan Kitchen recipes.

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    Step by stepInstructions

    1. Toss the eggplant with the turmeric and half the salt. Heat the oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat.
    2. Fry the eggplant in batches for 4 to 5 minutes, until golden and tender. Drain on paper towels.
    3. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of oil. Add the onion, green chilies, mustard seeds, and curry leaves and cook, stirring, for 4 minutes, until the onion is soft.
    4. Add the vinegar, sugar, water, and remaining salt and bring to a boil. Simmer for 5 minutes, until slightly syrupy.
    5. Return the eggplant to the pan and toss gently to coat. Simmer for 2 minutes, until the syrup clings.
    6. Cool completely, then refrigerate overnight before serving, if time allows.

    💡 Chef tips & storage

    Fry the eggplant in batches so it browns instead of steaming, and drain well on paper towels. Make it a day ahead; the flavors deepen and the eggplant soaks up the dressing overnight.

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    Recipe details

    Prep20 min
    Cook25 min
    Servings6
    CategorySide Dish
    PublishedAugust 17, 2026
    Emily — the cook behind My Comfort Recipes

    Hi, I'm Emily 🧡

    Hi, I'm Emily — the cook behind My Comfort Recipes. Simple, tested comfort food for real weeknights, written down the way grandma would. Pull up a chair. More about me →

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