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What Would You Do With...

Shelby

By Shelby
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Shelby

Shelby

Posted
Posted

My husband came home from the Asian market today with something that I need ideas for.  Which, spawned an idea.....every time my husband goes there he's going to buy a random new (to us) something for us to cook with.  That idea spawned this thread.  I will post the purchases here and hope to get ideas and help from everyone.  And, if anyone else would like to participate in this, I think it would be fun :)

 

So, here's todays purchase:

 

photo.jpg

 

 

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heidih

heidih

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Adorable eggplant. I like them halved in any coconut milk based curry. The ones I have had can have a high proportion of seed to flesh but the seeds are itty bitty and add a nice textural element. 

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caroled

caroled

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Beautiful little eggplants! Can't wait to see what you do with them.

Huiray, please chime in here.

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And this old porch is like a steaming greasy plate of enchiladas,With lots of cheese and onions and a guacamole salad ...This Old Porch...Lyle Lovett

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haresfur

haresfur

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Adorable eggplant. I like them halved in any coconut milk based curry. The ones I have had can have a high proportion of seed to flesh but the seeds are itty bitty and add a nice textural element. 

 

I'm with Heidi, but don't have much to add except a story.  A hippie/gardener I knew a long time ago sold veg at the local farmers market.  He didn't even have a table or chair, just put the food out on a blanket and sat on a box with a serene smile. One autumn day, he picked all the little eggplants that weren't going to get big enough and figured he might get something for them.  His description of his surprise at the jostling among the Chinese community for these delicacies was priceless.

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It's almost never bad to feed someone.

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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I ran out of time tonight but tomorrow I plan to go shopping for little eggplants to make nasu no nibitashi.  I like this dish so much, maybe next year I'll grow eggplants.

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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cakewalk

cakewalk

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Don't know what to do with the cute little eggplants, but great idea for a thread. Many years ago when I first discovered Kalustyan's in NY (spice shop, sauces, everything, mostly Indian but also pan-Asian) I used to buy things and then go look them up on Google. I still have various unopened packets of things, I might join in.

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djyee100

djyee100

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Kasma Loha-unchit has a complicated recipe for fish or shrimp dumplings in a Thai green curry with these eggplants. I've cooked it, and it's great. I winced when I reread the recipe just now, though, because you might have to send your husband back to the Asian market for ingredients. Also clear out a wkend afternoon for cooking. Here's the recipe anyway:
http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/greencur2.html

 

An easier possibility is a Shrimp Curry from Southern India. I've cooked this one also, and liked it a lot. A friend cooked it for his wife, and she loved it. Southern Indian food is spicy, so adjust the chiles and spices to your taste. You can sub your Asian eggplants for the eggplants in this recipe, they'll taste fine in this coconut milk curry.
http://acornadvisors.com/2009_KNews/09-10-22_Curry_Cuisine/Recipes/CW_Shrimp.html -- Note: the salt in this recipe is kosher salt. If you're using sea salt, halve the amt of salt in the recipe, then adjust to your taste.

 

I like the idea for this thread, too.

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hummingbirdkiss

hummingbirdkiss

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I was taught by a Cambodian friend to slice the thin and use them raw as crackers for a sardine spread made with chiles, garlic and lime I just eat the sliced but they go great in SE Asian curry type dishes

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why am I always at the bottom and why is everything so high? 

why must there be so little me and so much sky?

Piglet 

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huiray

huiray

Posted
Posted

• Tom Yum and equivalent. (Teeny baby okra in it as well would also be nice)  I.e. use them as Thai egplants.
• Sayur Lodeh.

• Sayur Asem.

• Any SE Asian curry with eggplant in it.

• Stir-fries w/ a thinly-sliced meat of your choice, with seasonings such as some sort of fermented bean curd, fermented black beans (with or without chillies), thick soy paste w/ some sort of heat, etc.  It is nice if the eggplants retain quite a bit of crunch, IMO.

• Soups w/ meat of your choice, together with complementary vegetables in a complementary sauce - the possibilities span a great range.

• Tempura.

etc etc.

 

In other words, maybe look to the East.  After all, your hubby got them in an "Asian" Market and another poster reports about "Asian" folks scrambling after them.  I assume that "Asian" here means E/SE Asian, not South Asian = Indian, or Turkish or Pakistani or Uzbekistani etc etc.  (In the UK "Asian" still often means Pakistani or Indian (i.e. South Asian), FWIW; NOT Chinese)

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SylviaLovegren

SylviaLovegren

Posted
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Of course you can cook them Asian style, but you don't have to.  They're delicious cut up and sauteed in olive oil with onions until soft, then add some garlic and cook it, then finish off with a splash of balsamic vinegar and some fresh basil leaves.  Lusciousness.

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Shelby

Shelby

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How wonderful to wake up, click on Egullet and find all of these lovely ideas!  Thank you everyone.  I think this will be a fun thread.  I have enough of these babies to make a couple different dishes I think.  I might start with a simple one like Sylvia suggested.  I'll be back :)

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First eG Blog-Winter 2011

 

Second eG Blog-Summer 2015

 

Third eG Blog-Hunting season Birds and Deer 2016, 2017,2018,2019, 2021, 2022

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dcarch

dcarch

Posted
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Speaking of cute baby eggplants, you can also buy (or grow) Fairy Tale eggplants. Beautiful thumb size fruits, which are very creamy and seedless in texture, not very sharp eggplant taste.

 

Here is one dish, mussels on the half shell, and on half Fiary Tale eggplants.

 

dcarch

 

musselseggplants_zpsbdb46f43.jpg

 

musselseggplants3_zps581e8886.jpg

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liuzhou

liuzhou

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When I look at your eggplants, I just think Thailand and Vietnam. I've never actually come across these in China, although they are no doubt available somewhere.

 

No specific recipes but I'd be searching Google  for "Thai eggplant" or "Vietnam eggplant" etc. Also, try substituting "aubergine" for "eggplant" to get to even more.

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...your dancing child with his Chinese suit.

 

"No amount of evidence will ever persuade an idiot"
Mark Twain
 

The Kitchen Scale Manifesto

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huiray

huiray

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Posted (edited)

The mini-eggplant parm sliders idea intrigues me - it does sound nice.  It would make for nice appetizers too.

 

I tend to think of these small round eggplants as "Thai eggplants" and treat them accordingly, as I suggested above.  In fact, they could be (and do look like) the purple-streaked variety of the more commonly found green/white Thai eggplants. (See here and here as examples) There are some other varieties also which resemble them, although slightly elongated/ovoid ones are what I would see in my mind's eye there.**  After Sylvia's suggestion is tried perhaps you might consider doing something in a Thai style...?  (You don't need *all* the ingredients in a particular recipe to get an idea of what the dish would be like, IMO, or to do it "in the style of..." :smile:  )

 

I like to retain the "crunch" of eggplants like these (seeds and all) when I cook them in suitable dishes, as opposed to cooking them till they are "almost dissolving" in the way one would do with the larger and/or long eggplants (including the big(ger) ovoid ones commonly found in supermarkets in the USA).  So, for example, when I make a version of Tom Yum soup I would put the halved (or quartered) eggplants - like these - into the simmering soup almost at the end so that they are just cooked (followed soon after by baby okra/Lady's Fingers (and shrimp/prawns) so both the eggplants and the okra remained "crunchy" but still just cooked/not raw).

 

** ETA: such as the variety called "Fairy Tale"; or "Zebra".  I've got small, ovoid ones that look like round ones only slightly "pulled" into an ovoid shape, from a local grower in one of the Farmers' Markets here.

Edited by Smithy
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Lindacakes

Lindacakes

Posted
Posted

Eggplant rollatinissimo.

 

I do this as often as I can, bring something back from the farmer's market or specialty grocery that I am unfamiliar with and don't know how to cook.  I draw it before I eat it.  Have explored:  Turk's Turban squash, salsify, Hen of the Woods mushrooms, scallop roe, ostrich egg, dragon fruit, kohlrabi, garlic scapes, fresh ginger, Buddha's hand citron, celeriac, rutabaga, parsnips, cherimoya, purslane, avocado squash, fava beans, tatsoi, romano beans, etc. etc.

 

 I have yet to do this to the Asian vegetables, and look forward to it.

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I like to bake nice things. And then I eat them. Then I can bake some more.

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djyee100

djyee100

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When I look at your eggplants, I just think Thailand and Vietnam...

 

 

I tend to think of these small round eggplants as "Thai eggplants" and treat them accordingly...

 

I thought they were Thai eggplants also when I first eyeballed them. Asian markets in the U.S. can be creative in how they label produce, and I wouldn't bet the house on their accuracy.

 

I've eaten this kind of eggplant raw on some Thai appetizer platters. They are served with very spicy tidbits (e.g, hot sausage), along with herbs, lettuce, and various cut-up raw vegs. I don't think the eggplants taste that great raw. But when my mouth was burning up from some spicy Thai food, I was willing to try anything to quench the flames.

 

Anyway, taste a piece or two raw and decide if it does anything for you. Marinated and added to a salad?

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Ashen

Ashen

Posted
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how about making some pickled baby eggplant  .  I have only ever eaten it prepared this way , but google has a few recipes.  Seems to be a Middle Eastern origin for most of them. 

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"Why is the rum always gone?"

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BeeZee

BeeZee

Posted
Posted (edited)

Don't know if this would work, but riff on arancini. Since they look to be sort of golf ball size...cut in half, scoop center out with melon baller, put a cube of mozz in, stick halves back together and toothpick to hold. Egg wash, bread crumb, deep fry. Serve with marinara.

Eggplant parm in a ball!

Edited by BeeZee (log)
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"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" - Oscar Wilde

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