Eggplants and Aubergines

[Corinna Dunne]

babaganoush - I hope I spelt that correctly!

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This works really well if you insert slivers of garlic into the aubergine before putting them on the grill to char.

Great to see so many moussaka fans on the cook off thread. It's a much malligned dish which is wonderful when prepared with care. I think aubergine has a particular affinity with lamb and goats cheese, so like to use the latter in the fluffy, bechamel/custard topping.

Edited May 12, 2005 by Corinna Dunne (log)

[tryska]

italian eggplant tastes really good cut up and roasted with honey.

don't have a recipe beyond that.

[TongoRad]

babaganoush - I hope I spelt that correctly!

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This works really well if you insert slivers of garlic into the aubergine before putting them on the grill to char.

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I really don't like the raw garlic flavor in babaghanous either, so that's a really intriguing solution.

My own method is a bit different. I have found that, to get the seriously smoky flavor that I prefer, the best way to char the eggplant is to do it directly on the gas burner. This, obviously, does a number on the skin so I finish the cooking process in the oven. The problem is that near the end of the charring process the skin cracks and juices start to make a mess on the burner- if the skin had been pierced from the beginning it would be a whole lot messier.

With my garlic, I roast some individual cloves, paper still on, in a dry pan on low heat until soft. The skin starts to burn a bit and gives some smoky character to the garlic as well. When done I remove the paper and mash them up into some olive oil, which gets added to the rest of the ingredients.

Edited May 12, 2005 by TongoRad (log)

[curlywurlyfi]

I occasionally make a beautifully rich aubergine curry, loosely based on a (I think) Nigel Slater recipe. Fry onion, garlic, coriander seeds till soft golden + floppy, add cubed aubergine, grated ginger, dried chilli flakes + crushed cardamom seeds*, fry a little. Add a tin of tomatoes and a tin (or half a tin) coconut milk, and some salt. Bring to the boil then simmer till aubergine is tender + sauce reduced. Chop fresh coriander over, serve with rice and possibly some plain yoghurt. Green beans go well alongside.

* spices can be varied as you please

[ldubois2]

To the subject of white eggplant, I remember reading that the original eggplant introduced to the US was white and that is why it was called "eggplant". Don't know if they call them eggplant in England or aubergine (sp). And will confirm that I also read there are male and female eggplant and difference is the size of the stem end. Older, less-fresh eggplant have more seeds.

[Busboy]

I've got a great, mess of a recipe that was inspired by good dinner at a cheap taverna in Athens.

(All measurements are made up)

Slowly sautee two onions in lots of olive oil until transparent and sweet.

As the onions are sauteeing, slice thick rounds (since it's kind of a stew, thin slices would melt during cooking) off three eggplants and brown in more olive oil. Slice the rounds in half (our whatever you feel looks right) and throw on top of the onions. You should have about twice as much eggplant as onion. Cook on low until the eggplant begins to get mushy.

Add a large can of whole tomatoes, drained and crushed.

When the eggplant is fully mushy but not dissolved, take off the heat. You can add capers, chopped oregano, and a squeeze or two (or more) of lemon if you'd like. You have to add fresh crumbled feta cheese. Serve warm or room temperature with roast chicken or lamb sausage.

[Liz Johnson]

I'm embarrased to say...

I have never cooked eggplant. I've never even sliced it.

But they looked so good at my farmers market that I picked up 4. Now I don't know what to do.

All these recipes look great, but I'm intimidated. Do I always have to salt it and let it drip first so it gets crisp? What about a gratin... do I need to cook the eggplant separately first?

What herbs and spices go well? Thyme, basil, yes... but curries seem to go so well with eggplant that the possibilties seem endless.

I want to start simply.... where?!

[anzu]

I'm embarrased to say...

I have never cooked eggplant. I've never even sliced it.

But they looked so good at my farmers market that I picked up 4. Now I don't know what to do.

All these recipes look great, but I'm intimidated. Do I always have to salt it and let it drip first so it gets crisp? What about a gratin... do I need to cook the eggplant separately first?

What herbs and spices go well? Thyme, basil, yes... but curries seem to go so well with eggplant that the possibilties seem endless.

I want to start simply.... where?!

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Eggplant is my favorite vegetable and I cook it often. I never salt it, and have never felt the need.

For a gratin, cook first.

There is probably a lot on this in the moussaka thread (which I haven't read) or elsewhere but, nonetheless here goes:

I find that eggplant can easily be fried with VERY little oil (which it otherwise adores and soaks up like a sponge) as long as you spread the slices out in a single layer and cook slowly over medium heat in a non-stick pan. Flip once, no need to add more oil. Slow cooking and patience is the key here.

What goes well with eggplant: almost everything! Specific favorites, pork (not a herb or spice last time I checked, but still mentioning because eggplant and pork make a great match), garlic, tomatoes, oregano, fennel, cinnamon. Not necessarily all at once, but all at once might not be bad either...

For a simple, high calory and delicious introduction to eggplant without adding extraneous flavors and really getting to know the taste of the eggplant itself : cut into rings, dip into egg, then flour seasoned simply with salt and pepper, then shallow fry until golden, flipping once so both sides are done equally. With this type of coating, the eggplant goes meltingly tender inside the fried outer coating. Sounds simple, but is definitely worth eating.This is the first dish I ever made with eggplant, and I couldn't stop eating it.

Make into tempura instead, if you feel like it. You get the same melting effect of the cooked eggplant within the batter.

With both, make sure that the eggplant is cooked through. (Don't make the rings too thick). Apart from the types eaten raw in Thailand, undercooked eggplant is nasty.

BTW, the possibilites with eggplant ARE endless. A few years back I started collecting recipes centered around eggplant. Got several hundred now, I would think, all the way from soup to sweet eggplant jam.

[Milagai]

I'm embarrased to say...

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BTW, the possibilites with eggplant ARE endless. A few years back I started collecting recipes centered around eggplant. Got several hundred now, I would think, all the way from soup to sweet eggplant jam.

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wow! that sounds amazing! perhaps a cookbook from you one day?

(said hopefully)

milagai

[Episure]

Eggplant/Aubergine/Brinjal scored, deep fried, topped with Cumin, Red Chilli and Mango Powders; fresh Coriander/Cilantro and onion. This was made from the thick long globe variety, I love to eat it with the skin.

[Liz Johnson]

Ok... I"m heading in. Thanks for the advice. I'll try some simply fried. And I think I'll do Ron Johnson's suggestion from page 1 on stuffing with goat cheese. I'll let you know!

[mrbigjas]

here's what happened to me sunday: all the recipes i've seen for baba ghanouj start with roasting the eggplant, whole, in the oven (or over charcoal, if you have that, which i don't). in fact, i've done this several times before with no problem. but this weekend i was roasting a nice big eggplant for a batch of melitzanosalata when suddenly from the oven i heard BANG! hisssssss. i opened it up, and sure enough, the eggplant had committed suicide, exploding and sending chunks of itself all over the oven.

most of it was still intact--and i had to turn the oven up to 500 anyway to bake pitas, so the little bits i couldn't pull out got burned up with no problem--so alls well that ends well. but that one sure did catch me off guard. i wonder why it happened.

[Chufi]

i was roasting a nice big eggplant for a batch of melitzanosalata when suddenly from the oven i heard BANG! hisssssss.  i opened it up, and sure enough, the eggplant had committed suicide, exploding and sending chunks of itself all over the oven.

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happened to me once. BIG mess .

If you poke a couple of holes in it with a fork or toothpick, the steam can escape and it won't happen again.

[mrbigjas]

happened to me once. BIG mess  .

If you poke a couple of holes in it with a fork or toothpick, the steam can escape and it won't happen again.

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you know, in retrospect that makes perfect sense. i mean, you poke holes in potatoes when you bake them, in eggs when you boil them, etc. really i'd think i would have known better, wouldn't you? and yet none of the recipes ever state this, so it just didn't even register that i should. but next time i'm TOTALLY gonna remember.

[Smithy]

Now I know why you're supposed to prick the skin before grilling or cooking it whole. I always wondered.

Another way of cooking eggplant, that I haven't seen mentioned here yet, is creamed eggplant. I love this preparation. Basically, you cook the eggplant through by charring or oven cooking (whole, with skin pricked ) until it totally collapses. Then set it aside until cool enough to handle. Peel, throw the pulp into a bowl of lemon-salt water to keep it from going brown. Meanwhile, make what amounts to a white sauce. Throw in the drained eggplant and stir in the sauce, and it melts down into the sauce, no kidding. Add grated kasseri and melt it in, then add salt and pepper to taste. You can see pictures and more discussion of the process in this post, about halfway down.

Edited September 6, 2005 by Smithy (log)

[opinionatedchef]

i am about to do a big batch of moussaka. do people have opinions about whether regular large dk ppl eggplant- or small ppl japanese eggplant- are more flavorful?

[piazzola]

i am about to do a big batch of moussaka.  do people have opinions about whether regular large dk ppl eggplant- or small ppl japanese eggplant- are more flavorful?

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Well the vast Greek community here use the large variety for this and other dishes perhaps and because they are cheaper but ber in mind Greeks are budget concious and they like to travel to Greece as often as they can afford

[Jason Perlow]

The purple sicilian eggplants are good, they have a custardy texture when baked. If you use the regular Italian black ones try to use just the males. The females have too many seeds and can be bitter.

The small asian eggplants are more ideal for stir frying and they have the wrong texture for a heavy dish like mousakka.

You really should have a look at the Moussaka cook off we did back in April:

Cook Off VII: Moussaka

[k43]

Fruits, with any seeds at all, are pretty much by definition female . . .

If there are male and female eggplants, how do you tell them apart?

Edited November 17, 2005 by k43 (log)

[Bill Miller]

Fruits, with any seeds at all, are pretty much by definition female . . .

If there are male and female eggplants, how do you tell them apart?

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Look at the end opposite the stem-- if it is indented it is a female--if it is more flat it is male---I Think?!?

[Steven Blaski]

Ain't no such thing as a male or female eggplant -- it's one of those old-wives' tales.

"There is long-standing controversy about male and female eggplants, which is an inaccurate approach considering the fact that fruits are the product of sex and do not have it. However, it is folk wisdom worth some attention. Eggplants have a dimple at the blossom end. The dimple can be very round or oval in shape. The round ones seem to have more seeds and tend to be less meaty, so select the oval dimpled eggplant." - University of Illinois Extension

Here's some eggplant tips from Food Maven Arthur Schwartz:

"Select eggplants that are light for their size. The usual advice with produce, including eggplant, is to choose fruit/vegetables that are heavy for their size. It doesn’t work with eggplant. The lighter eggplants seem to have fewer seeds, and in the five or six years that I have been choosing my speciments, I have yet to get a bitter one.

Salting eggplant is important if you’re frying the eggplant. I don’t believe salting has any impact on bitterness. I have salted and carefully cooked many an eggplant that still remains bitter. However, eggplant can absorb a huge amount of oil when it is fried, and salting it first seems to reduce that absorption. Also, frying eggplant in abundant oil at no less than 375 degrees makes for a less oily result.

This is what Russel Parsons of the Los Angeles Times says in his book How to Read a French Fry: “Adding salt to eggplant that is going to be fried results in a softer, plusher texture, but it has little or no effect on eggplant that will be grilled.”

Anne Gardiner and Sue Wilson, authors of The Inquisitive Cook feel that salting results in eggplant that is both less salty and less greasy. They write “Sprinkling pieces of eggplant with salt … leaves the eggplant pieces with a denser texture, so they tend to absorb less fat.”

I do sprinkle salt on eggplant slices (for instance, for Eggplant Parmigiana) but if I am cooking chunks of eggplant or an irregular shape, I soak them in salted water. Use about a tablespoon of salt for a couple of quarts of water. Let the eggplant pieces soak for 20 minutes to half an hour. The water will turn dark. Discard it and pat the eggplant dry before frying."

[opinionatedchef]

thanks for everyone's info. i actually make my moussaka with ROASTED eggplant slices. the flavor is good and strong and no extra oil or breading. but if i don't need to salt it, that will save a great deal of time.

as to salting, my japanese chef (for my catering co.) always soaks eggplant in salted warm water- with a weighted bowl on top of it)

funny,somehow i wouldn't think the japanese would practice a needless food technique.

[Episure]

Over here the pear shaped purple ones have more flavour. I soak the slices in salted water weighed down(it prevents discoloration) before deep frying at medium-hot graduating to high temperature.

Edited November 18, 2005 by Episure (log)

[TongoRad]

I made some Caponata tonight (Thursday) for consumption on Saturday. I prefer to give it a day or so to really come together. I'm using this particular method for the third time, and I really like the results. Might as well give a bit of a demo (just click on the recipe above for the ingredients)-

The first thing to say, I guess, is that this is a combination stovetop/oven method and I tend to add quite a bit of oil as I go. I figure that if the eggplant wants to be a greedy little oil sponge I may as well just let it- and the end results are pretty rich and luxurious to boot (surprise, surprise). I also have come to prefer to use balsamic vinegar over the (more traditional?) red wine vinegar, and that is pretty much because the sweet/sour aspect of the dish is enhanced by the balsamic.

Here are the supporting characters. I made the roasted peppers last night.

The sliced eggplant is dredged/dusted with flour before hitting the saute pan. This does two things- it keeps the eggplant from sticking and falling apart (also- that part that sticks tends to get crispy, and you don't want that), and the modest amount of starch helps thicken the juices given off by the veggies. Here is a shot midway through cooking- some moderate browning is okay, but I really just want to cook them through.

I add the capers and peppers to the sweated veggies for a bit to allow them to bloom. Here it is before the tomatoes and eggplant enter the picture-

Coarsly chopped eggplant after shedding its skin-

And here it is out of the oven. The flavors have had a chance to marry and the individual elements have softened yet still hold a bit of their shape.

In a few days and out of the fridge this will look a hell of a lot more appealing, although it smells damn fine right now. I will post a final photo to the recipe at that time

[TongoRad]

Just a follow up with a money shot-

Good stuff!