How do you do your eggplant?

[bellzeybubba]

I just noticed that two more of my black champion eggplants have flowers today :). Since we had eggplant tonight too, I need to expand my repitoire of what I make with eggplant.

The standard recipe and family favorite is "eggplant pasta". I cut the eggplant into thin rectangles about 2 in x 1/2 in., then salt it and let it sit in the colander for an hour or two, then pat dry. I start some spaghetti water boiling and heat up olive oil for frying. I deep-fry the eggplant strips in batches until they are golden brown and drain while the spaghetto cooks. Once it's all done I toss the eggplant with the pasta, and add some Parmesan cheese and black pepper on the top. That's it, you don't need any extra oil or salt because there's enough in the eggplant. My family fights over the bits of eggplant, the husband says it's as good as bacon :D.

But as you can imagine, I can't make that all the time... so tonight I revived a recipe I used to make a lot before I had the kids. Modified from the recipe in World-of-the-East Vegetarian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey (main modification is reducing the amount of oil - it's also on the salty side so you might want to reduce salt).

2 TB vegetable oil
1/2 tsp whole black mustard seeds
1 cup diced boiling potatoes -- 1/2″ cubes
1 cup diced eggplant -- 1/2″ cubes
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1/4 tsp ground turmeric
1/4 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp salt
3 TB water

Heat the oil in a skillet over a medium-high flame. When hot, put in the mustard seeds. As soon as the mustard seeds begin to pop (this just takes a few seconds), put in the potatoes and eggplant. Stir once. Now put in the coriander, cumin, turmeric, cayenne, and salt. Stir and fry for about a minute. Add 3 tablespoons water, cover immediately with a tight-fitting lid, turn heat to low and simmer gently 10 to 15 minutes or until potatoes are tender. Stir every now and then. If the vegetables seem to catch at the bottom of the skillet, add another tablespoon of water.

It was delicious, but even though the kids tried it, as expected they were not big fans. They like spice, but are not big on potatoes.

Fried eggplant is always good, I've done all kinds of batters such as tempura, cornmeal, etc.

I need more ideas for using eggplant! Anyone have any good recipes?

[Emerald]

I don't do alot of egg plant as the family will just not eat it- but one way that I liked is to do the customary salting and draining the excess water- letting nice 1/2 to 1/4 inch slices drain out and then marinating in your favorite olive oil/vinaigrette or Italian dressing and then grilling them with peppers and zucchini and other garden veggies and putting it on a nice crusty bread with provolone cheese and garlic mayo with fresh tomato and lettuce. (and bacon or ham for meat eaters).
__ It seems that some one on here had a great recipe for Baba ganush (spelling needed here!:D) dip and I know that eggplant is one of the main ingredients.

[gardencrazy]

I like to bread it and fry it. Then cut it into strips and dip into a cucumber garlic yogurt sauce (tsatsiki).

Here's my favorite. It looks like a lot of directions but its not hard.

Zucchini (or Eggplant) Casserole (Parmesan)

Somehow food tastes better when you don’t call it a casserole. The term “zucchini parmesan or eggplant parmesan” conjures up images or a wonderful Italian dish. The term “zucchini casserole or eggplant casserole” conjures up images of there being too many zucchinis or eggplants to know what to do with. Anyway, this is a tasty dish that can be made with either zucchini or eggplant. Serves lots.

Ingredients

4 medium zucchinis or 2 large eggplants
2 cups bread crumbs
2 eggs, slightly beaten
Olive oil
½ lb ground beef, cooked and drained*
½ lb loose hot Italian sausage, cooked and drained*
1 onion, diced and sautéed until translucent
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 lbs part skim ricotta cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
¼ to ½ cup Romano cheese
2 lbs part skim mozzarella, shredded
1 quart spaghetti sauce (I use my own spaghetti sauce or the arrabbiata sauce)
2 eggs
1 cup mushrooms, sliced and sautéed, optional
1 tablespoon dried basil
2 teaspoons oregano or marjoram
2 tablespoons dried parsley
* You can use 1 lb of ground beef or 1 lb of hot Italian sausage, or 1 lb of sweet Italian sausage.

Slice the zucchini into ¼ inch discs (for eggplant cut into ¼ inch discs; salt each side of eggplant and set in a colander lined with paper towels. Let the eggplants “sweat” for at least an hour rinse and pat dry. Then continue with the directions for the zucchini). Dip the zucchini slices into the slightly beaten egg and then dip coating the entire disc in bread crumbs. Fry in hot olive oil until golden brown. Place cooked sliced on a plate lined with a paper towel to drain grease. Repeat until all the zucchini slices are cooked.

In a large mixing bowl, mix ricotta, parmesan, Romano, eggs, basil, oregano, parsley and all but one cup mozzarella. Mix until well blended. In a separate bowl, combine cooked ground beef, cooked hot sausage, onion, garlic, mushrooms (optional) and zucchini (optional). Mix until combined.

In a 9x13 inch pan, spread about 1 cup of spaghetti sauce along the bottom of the pan. Layer fried vegetable slices (about ⅓ of the zucchini or eggplant) on the bottom of the pan, overlapping slightly. Spread ½ of the cheese mixture over the zucchini or eggplant. Spread ½ of the meat mixture over the cheese layer. Spread 1 cup spaghetti sauce over the meat layer. Repeat layering with fried veggies, cheese mixture, meat mixture and sauce. Place the last layer of zucchini or eggplant on top and top with remaining spaghetti sauce.

Cover with tin foil. Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees F. Remove foil carefully and top with 1 cup mozzarella. Return to oven and bake 10 to 15 minutes longer. Let stand for 30 minutes before cutting (this will prevent you from having a liquidy casserole).

[weedkiller]

Moussaka

INGREDIENTS

1 kg aubergines (large or/and elongated variety) 160 ml vegetable oil (about 1 teacup) 1 large onion, finely sliced 450 gr. minced beef 1 glass white wine (not retsina, but aretsinoto) 350 gr. fresh tornatoes, 1400 gr. tomatoes, drained of some of their juice and chopped teaspoon ground cinnamon teaspoon ground allspice salt and black pepper 1 teaspoon oregano 25 gr. grated parmesan, kefalotiri, or Gruyere cheese some chopped parsley

Bechamel Sauce 80 gr. butter 80 gr. flour 600 ml warm milk salt and white pepper 30 gr. grated Parmesan or Gruyere cheese 2 egg yolks

Toppingz 60 gr. grated Parmesan,Gruyere or kefalotiri cheese 4 tablespoons toasted breadcrumbs

METHOD
Moussaka should be baked in the oven. Use a roasting container, eitber square or oblong, approximately 25x25 cm or 39x28 cm. It is recommended that you spread the work involved over two days for your convinience; one can easily cook the meat the day before, witbout the Moussaka suffering at all. Do not do the same with the aubergines; they should be fried on the day.

Aubergines
Top and tail the aubergines, without peeling them. Rinse them, cut them lengthways in 75-mm thick slices and immerse them in salted water, for 30 minutes.Take them out, squeeze gently, rinse, then squeeze them again. Drain them in a colander and pat dry. Fry them in hot vegetable oil until they become pale golden on both sides; you can either deep-fry them, which is easier but they absorb a lot of oil, or shallow-fry them. In either case, drain them on absorbent paper on a flat platter before serving, so that most of their oil will dribble away.

Meat
Sautee the sliced onion in 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, until it looks glistening. Add the meat and sautee together, stirring, until all the lumps are broken down and the meat starts to change colour. Pour in the wine, add tomatoes, sliced finely, the spices, salt and pepper and the oregano. Cover and cook for 20 minutes, stirring from time to time in case it sticks. Then mix in the grated cheese and parsley.

Bechamel Sauce
Melt the butter and, away from the heat, gradually add the flour and stir to amalgamate. Return to the heat and gradually add the milk and seasoning, stirring continuously. Simmer for 9-10 minutes, stirring, until it has thickened considerably. Withdraw the pan from the heat, let it stand briefly, then add the cheese and the egg yolks. Stir to amalgamate them. Do not let the sauce boil after this. It should by now be a thick bechamel, to enable it to sit on top of the meat mixture and form a kind of crust.

To assemble, cover the base of the roasting dish with half of the fried aubergines, then spread half of the meat mixture evenly on top of them and cover neatly with the remaining aubergines. Spread the remaining meat and sauce evenly over the top and cover neatly with the bechamel sauce. Sprinkle the grated cheese all over the top, and the breadcrumbs. Moussaka from Macedonia may contain a layer of thinly sliced roun potatoes which have been fried first. Bake in a pre-heated oven, gas no.4/ 350 grades F/ 180 grades C, for 1 hour, untit a golden crust is formed all over the top. Let it stand for 5 minutes before serving, in order to be able to cut it more easily. To serve, cut into square or oblong-shaped pieces, about 8 cm thick. It should be quite dry by then and the pieces should ideally stay intact.

[gulfcoastguy]

Mousaka made with either ground lamb or deer is good if you have a lot of time. For the long thin eggplant slice them length wise, brush them with olive oil and sprinkle with fresh ground black pepper and salt then put them on the grill.

BTW welcome on board Weedkiller.

[SpaceAge]

Well ,

first I send it some flowers , then I make up a corny Poem , and then I ... :eek::rolleyes:

[Ajla]

I do them as scapeci, when I have a lot.
Grate them, cover them in salt, wring in tea cloth,
dry them well, add vinegar and olive oil,
leave to marinate for some days in fridge,
makes a nice side dish!

[uprooted_kentuckian]

ok, a dumb question for you guys. Eggplant has always made me a bit sick to think about for some reason, so I've never even tried it. What is it similar to, what about its consistancy.

[bellzeybubba]

IMO, it is most similar in taste and texture to summer squash.

However, I wouldn't normally eat it raw (although I'm very interested in Ajla's scapeci) as it can be bitter when raw, and the texture is not good. So in that way it is not like summer squash.

It's often salted before cooking, to draw out some liquid and bitterness, if it has any.

It's got a distinctive flavor which I could best describe as "buttery", although it's not exactly like butter.

Eggplant flesh can be cooked to a complete mush and thus thicken whatever you're making, or cooked less time and will remain somewhat firm. It does tend to be more on the soft side when cooked well, but that's not necessarily a detriment - it adds to that "buttery" comparison. When compared to summer squash, it's more likely to disintegrate instead of getting the sort of slimy texture summer squash gets when cooked a long time (nothing against summer squash).

I almost forgot about making ratatouille! There's another delicious, and healthy, use for eggplant :).

[fawnmeadow]

I either coat it with Italian flavored bread crumbs and fry in light olive oil,
Or coat my Forman grill with the oil, lightly salt the eggplant and grill it. That was my lunch today!

[lovely09]

We have here what we called Torta and kids will love it.

Ingredients:
eggplant
egg
salt
cooking oil

Preparation:
1.Grilled the eggplant until it is firm.Take the skin out.
2.Sliced eggplant in desired shape.
3.Put the slice eggplant with egg and fry.
4.salt as you desire.
5.prepare it with a ketchup and serve.

[ovenbird]

I peel and dice a large eggplant and an onion, about 1/3" dice. Saute both in olive oil. Mix with 1 package Near East Mediterranean Curry couscous mix and 1 T turmeric, salt and pepper to taste. Use as a stuffing for a squash, tomato or pepper, or wrap in swiss chard or cabbage or kale leaves to form rolls. Bake covered in tomato sauce if desired.

[SpaceAge]

I peel and dice a large eggplant and an onion, about 1/3" dice. Saute both in olive oil. Mix with 1 package Near East Mediterranean Curry couscous mix and 1 T turmeric, salt and pepper to taste. Use as a stuffing for a squash, tomato or pepper, or wrap in swiss chard or cabbage or kale leaves to form rolls. Bake covered in tomato sauce if desired.


~~~~~~~~~~

Oh man , that sounds really good ...

[bluelacedredhead]

And if none of those suggestions are to your liking, well, there's always this, :D

http://www.aubergines.org/recipes.php


J/J folks....There are some amazing suggestions in this thread. Thanks for sharing...I'm growing 5 varieties this year and I'll be trying some different recipes too.

[kyaggie]

ok, a dumb question for you guys. Eggplant has always made me a bit sick to think about for some reason, so I've never even tried it. What is it similar to, what about its consistancy.

Eggplant can be a bit bitter. Grandma always insisted it be peeled and then salt brined in the fridge....then rinsed several times. (I have seen some frozen "healthy" dinners that do not peel the eggplant...I don't like the skin)

Consistancy wise, I can only speak to Black Beauty Eggplants, but they are a little like zuke perhaps a little more leathery...depending on the preparation. Grandma always floured it, dipped in egg batter, rolled in cracker crumbs and fried it in bacon grease. Very tasty.

Eggplant in casserole is very good; it seems eggplant is a real compliment to tomatoes. I love eggplant parmasian.

Try it!

[capebuffalo]

And if none of those suggestions are to your liking, well, there's always this, :D

http://www.aubergines.org/recipes.php


J/J folks....There are some amazing suggestions in this thread. Thanks for sharing...I'm growing 5 varieties this year and I'll be trying some different recipes too.


wow ! thanks for the link bluelace. got it bookmarked with an expanded 2010 eggplant allotment in the planning stages.

cape

[bellzeybubba]

Tonight I sliced it, brushed with olive oil and salt, and put it on the grill. They kids loved it! :D

[bluelacedredhead]

wow ! thanks for the link bluelace. got it bookmarked with an expanded 2010 eggplant allotment in the planning stages.

cape

We will have to compare later on and see how many we actually did use, :D

Bellzy, that's awesome!

[Imp]

If younger and very fresh, I like it oiled, seasoned and grilled- tastes a bit more like summer squash that way, UK.

I also like to either bread it or tempura ( tempura will have to be deep fried though) and fried. Sometimes I will layer larger fried pieces with provolone and fresh mozzarella slices and finish it in the oven- add a bit of pesto sauce to the cheese layers for a main dish.

It is also good diced rather small ( about 1/2 or less cubes) and added to beans as you cook them in the oven. They disappear into the bean sauce for the most part.

Mostly, I will peel, I don't like the skin at all, and slt it /rinse it before using.

[pepperhead212]

One of my favorite things to make w/EP in the simmer is ratatouille, using all those things out of the garden. Just had it for the first time this season last night!

The dish I have made more times with eggplant than any other is this:

Szechwan Eggplant

1 lb eggplant, preferably oriental, cit into 3/4 in. cubes
1/2 lb ground pork or turkey
1 tb sesame oil
3 tb soy sauce, 1/2 & 1/2 light and dark
8 scallions, chopped (about 2 c)
4 tb oil
8 large cloves garlic, minced
1 in. piece ginger, minced
2 tb chili paste with garlic
1 tb sugar
1/2 c water

A. Combine the meat, soy sauce, sesame oil, and half of the scallions in a bowl and set aside.
B. Heat a wok or large saute pan over high heat a min. or so ''til hot; add oil, swirl, and heat 30 sec. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry 30 sec. Add chili paste and SF 30 sec. Add meat and SF 2 min, or until totally browned. Add eggplant, reduce heat slightly, and cook 4 min., tossing frequently. Add sugar and cook 2 min. longer.
C. Add water and reserved scallions, mix well, and cover. Cook 15 min. over med-high heat, stirring once or twice, until EP is tender and most of the water is cooked off.

This recipe, when doubled, will serve as a great coating for 1 lb. of pasta. It is a bit much to double in a 14 in. wok-I use my 20 in., or a 12 in. saute pan. And don't worry about the 2 soy sauces if you don't have the dark-just use all light...it's still great.

[bellzeybubba]

oooo thank you pepperhead212 that sounds wonderful!! I am definitely going to try that one!

[neeld]

I saw it sliced and dried in a market in Argentina. I never would of thought of drying it like that but that's what I do with most of mine now. It works really well for keeping the rest of the year, rehydrated like sun dried tomatoes for sauces and stir fries.

[pepperhead212]

Do you know if the dried EP was salted? I don't know if I am going to have THAT much of it, but this does sound like a good idea.

I just harvested 11 eggplants (small ones) today (actually yesterday) , and made two Malaysian recipes from the CB Cradle Of Flavor - S. Indian Style Eggplant pickle, p.133, and Asaih's Eggplant curry, p.229. I made both, partly because the EP is treated and cooked the same way - dusted w/turmeric, then fried, and drained - before the rest of the recipes are made. The pickle is made with some mustard seeds fried in some of the oil, then some cinnamon and curry leaves are added and cooked briefly, then some fresh peppers and a seasoning paste - the Malaysian addition, which is what I like so much - are added and cooked several min. Then the pickling ing. go in - salt, vinegar, and sugar, and the EP is tossed briefly with it. It was delicious sampling it earlier, and it is supposedly better after a day.

The curry had a definite Indian influence with the spices, but had coconut milk, like a Thai curry, and garlic, shallots, and fresh chiles, plus a sour component from the tamarind, giving it a definite SE Asian flavor, despite the absence of fish sauce or shrimp paste! It was very good, but it's not going to replace my Thai curries!

I did a taste test by grilling a slice of each of them, before using the rest in these recipes...I'll post the results when I get the photo to post.

[neeld]

Do you know if the dried EP was salted? I don't know if I am going to have THAT much of it, but this does sound like a good idea.

I don't. I just slice in about 1/2-3/4 inch slices and dry. What I saw in the market was more pristine looking so they probably use sulfur dioxide, citric acid or something else to preserve the look. I go for simple.