Chef Forum banner

Loaded with eggplant, what's a fast dish to use it in?

3K views 31 replies 15 participants last post by  rick alan 
#1 ·
An acquaintance gave us some eggplants from their garden.  I haven't cooked eggplant since I found myself putting 4:30 into a traditional mousaka recipe.

Aside from babaganoosh and excluding baked cheese which is not part of my diet these days (nothing to do with ulcers), what is a nice quick recipe for eggplant?

Rick
 
#6 · (Edited)
Made with small eggplants; roast them in the oven (or fry them in a pan if they are very small), halved with some olive oil, s&p. Put on rice with a bell pepper sauce and cuts of turkey breast.


Parmigiana di melanzana; quite a lot of work too! I posted a recipe in the tomato challenge from last year. Nicko posted one too, recently.


My absolute favorite, eggplants with a tahini dressing; eggplants roasted in the oven (halved, brushed with olive oil, s&p) until done. Eggplants need to be done completely, absolutely no "al dente". I now make the tahini dressing a bit different but it's stunningly tasty and easy to make and... quite healthy.

Tahini dressing; whisk 1-2 tbsp of water with 1-2 tbsp. of tahini. It will curdle but keep on whisking until it gets right. Add 2-3 tbsp. of Greek yoghurt, s&p and at least 1 very finely chopped or crushed clove of garlic (remove the core from the garlic!). Add any kind of fresh herbs, a little zeste of lemon and a good squeeze of lemon juice. Absolutely delicious! Optional; dust with paprika powder. Can be eaten warm but cold is fantastic in summer.

 
#7 ·
Rattattoui
 
#12 · (Edited)
Now a see you have ulcers. Forget my recomendation on pickled eggplants please.
No Ordo, I said, "nothing to do with ulcers." It's another gut issue that simply requires cutting back on a few things for a while. So for the moment no gobs of baked cheese, most carbs too except potatoes, less alchohol (that won't hurt me at all, my wine bill has been running a little high), vinegar too so no big pickled dishes. Rice was my biggest offender, boy you know there are some great things you can do with rice and a little bone chicken stock. That's the worst of it so no big deal really. And Gosh! I immediately felt so much better right after starting this.

Thanks all for the suggestions so far. Mualle would be high on the list except I have no desire for beans of lentils these days, I might try it with potatoes instead though, or just straight eggplant. I have pomegranate vinegar on hand so I might substitute that and any needed tweeks for the pom-molasses. But go ahead and tell me if I'm off the wall here cheflayne.

Parmigiana di melanzana looks right too, I might add the parmesan after baking though. I can cheat on this diet but give me an inch and I might get grabby.

I will use some for a rattattoui/copanata, looking for something extra savory and I like the kick I've been getting from the oven-baked onion crisps I've made use of recently, good to try here I think.

You know maybe we're due for an eggplant challenge next.

Rick
 
#16 ·
I've been meaning to try this recipe someday.

Szechwan eggplant in chili garlic sauce

(4 servings)

2 lbs eggplant
3 Tbsp oil for frying
2 whole dried chili peppers
6 cloves garlic, minced
2 scalions, chopped, incl green part
1 tsp sesame oil

(I sometimes toss in some extra veggies
if it's the only dish I'm cooking)

sauce:
1 Tbsp Szechwan sweet bean sauce or ground bean sauce
2 Tbsp black soy sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp pale dry sherry
1 tsp chili oil

Make 4 slashes around eggplant, about 1" deep.  Steam until soft.
Cool.  Tear into thin strips lengthwise.  Discard some seeds.

Heat oil in wok.  Fry chili peppers until dark brown; discard.  Add
garlic, scallions, brown slightly.  Add sauce mix, cook to bubble.
Add eggplant.  Add sesame oil.
 
#19 ·
In the classic Chinese book Dream of the Red Chamber, there's a famous recipe for braised eggplants. It's one of the most memorable scenes of the book. The poor Granny Liu taste the aubergines and can't believe they are aubergines at all. Then Wang Xifeng, her host, explains the recipe, that requires about 10 chickens to begin with.

"Lord Buddha! That's 10 chickens gone into the making of this. No wonder it tastes so good!"

"You needed to harvest the aubergines at their peak in the fifth lunar month. The vegetables are skinned and cut into strips that are steamed over a pot of chicken stock. They are dried and the whole process repeated nine times until the essence of chicken has thoroughly soaked through the vegetable. Store them in tightly sealed jars and stir-fry them with slivers of meat from chicken drumsticks. "

You can find some attemps to reproduce the recipe in the web.
 
#21 ·
Originally Posted by Rick Alan

Mualle would be high on the list except I have no desire for beans of lentils these days, I might try it with potatoes instead though, or just straight eggplant. I have pomegranate vinegar on hand so I might substitute that and any needed tweeks for the pom-molasses. But go ahead and tell me if I'm off the wall here cheflayne.
I don't see why potatoes wouldn't work but since I usually serve it with rice, I probably go with butternut squash as a sub for the lentils. You might be able to swing it with the pomegranate vinegar by using it to make a gastrique and subbing it in place of the pomegranate molasses; however pomegranate molasses is easy to make by reducing pomegranate juice with some additional sugar and lemon juice.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I adore eggplant.  So, no cheese, yes?

Some ideas/suggestions:

Eggplant bolognese

Eggplant balls - like meatballs, but sub the meat with eggplant (diced/chopped), egg, onion, bread crumbs etc.

Rollatini - guess you could skip the cheese and stuff with raisins, stuffing of choice, top with tomato sauce and bake.

Caponata

Eggplant (caprese) salad.  Can you have/eat fresh mozzarella?  Grill the eggplant slices, add to a platter with alternating fresh tomatoes, drizzle with vinaigrette.

Add to a stir-fry.  One of my faves from a Chinese restaurant is an eggplant and tofu  stir-fry with peanut sauce.

Eggplant pizza.

Fried eggplant slices would make a nice addition to an antipasto salad (w/ sun-dried tomatoes, garbanzos, etc, etc.).
 
#24 · (Edited)
You missed an earlier comment, for the moment I'm shying away from pickled and a few other things having to do with diet.

But a sugar confit brings back memories of my paternal grandmother's teiglach (actually I'm told it was a friend of hers that made it, she was reportedly not much of a cook, though she certainly knew chopped liver), and I think a rollatini with something like pounded thin chicken breast and some form of cured/smoked pork is going to be on the menu.

Rick
 
#25 ·
Yes, I went back and saw Ordo's comment about pickling it. I just happened to be making a batch of fresh pickles with some cucumbers a friend gave us, it was on my mind. Never had pickled eggplant, may have to give it a try.

mjb.
 
#26 ·
There's a Syrian/Lebanese/Palestinian (everyone claims it)  pickled eggplant dish that I was going to try making for the Middle East challenge but never had the baby eggplant or the time. It's called makdous and  baby eggplants are salted then stuffed with walnuts, garlic and red pepper flakes and packed in olive oil. I used to eat them at a Middle Eastern restaurant where they were made by the owner's elderly Aunt and they were incredible.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top