Awkward Aubergine
February 4, 2016 9:56 AM Subscribe
Feeling uninspired. What would you do for dinner tonight with an Aubergine (Eggplant)?
Please assume I have a pantry and fridge full of essentials (Tons of Spices, canned products, flour, milk, eggs, etc. etc.)
I have the following fresh ingredients at home: Eggplant (MUST be used) Cauliflower, Spinach, Chilli, Onion, Garlic, Red Peppers, potatoes.
I'm erring towards making an eggplant curry, but I've not made one before. Can you recommend your favourite Aubergine Curry recipes or recommend something else delicious and easy to make with all or one of those other ingredients?
I'm not a vegetarian but tonight I don't plan on eating anything with meat, so the veggies need to be the star of the dish, and also filling enough for a meal.
ANY help is appreciated, I don't cook much with Eggplant.
Please assume I have a pantry and fridge full of essentials (Tons of Spices, canned products, flour, milk, eggs, etc. etc.)
I have the following fresh ingredients at home: Eggplant (MUST be used) Cauliflower, Spinach, Chilli, Onion, Garlic, Red Peppers, potatoes.
I'm erring towards making an eggplant curry, but I've not made one before. Can you recommend your favourite Aubergine Curry recipes or recommend something else delicious and easy to make with all or one of those other ingredients?
I'm not a vegetarian but tonight I don't plan on eating anything with meat, so the veggies need to be the star of the dish, and also filling enough for a meal.
ANY help is appreciated, I don't cook much with Eggplant.
I am finding that I like the vegan recipes from Mark Bittman's newest enterprise, Purple Carrot:
Korean eggplant tacos
Eggplant Steaks with Mashed Cannellini and Farro Marinara
Seared eggplant with miso-succotash salad
Roasted Eggplant over Freekeh with Spiced Cumin-Tahini Cream, Pomegranate Seeds and Mint
posted by noonday at 10:04 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Korean eggplant tacos
Eggplant Steaks with Mashed Cannellini and Farro Marinara
Seared eggplant with miso-succotash salad
Roasted Eggplant over Freekeh with Spiced Cumin-Tahini Cream, Pomegranate Seeds and Mint
posted by noonday at 10:04 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Marcella's way with eggplant (paraphrased here and with some of my personal changes).
Half-inch cubes of eggplant: medium-lightly salted and tossed an hour before the fry starts. I let the cubes rest and sweat, then spin them in a salad spinner to get most of the surface water off. Balance them out, though, or the spinner will make a racket.
Take a cast-iron or otherwise heavy-bottomed frying vessel (cast-iron wok... whatever), heat up to just above medium, add (for one medium-sized eggplant) around 5 tablespoons of olive oil, and so the eggplant cubes. Toss and turn. See the oil vanish. Toss some more, add another tablespoon of oil. Put on medium low, and chop garlic and parsley very fine. After some more tossing, ten minutes or so, add the garlic-parsley. Cook patiently on low enough to not overly burn the garlic, while watching some of the oil re-surface; grind some pepper over it when almost done (30 minutes or so, depending on your heat-regulating skills).
posted by Namlit at 10:07 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Half-inch cubes of eggplant: medium-lightly salted and tossed an hour before the fry starts. I let the cubes rest and sweat, then spin them in a salad spinner to get most of the surface water off. Balance them out, though, or the spinner will make a racket.
Take a cast-iron or otherwise heavy-bottomed frying vessel (cast-iron wok... whatever), heat up to just above medium, add (for one medium-sized eggplant) around 5 tablespoons of olive oil, and so the eggplant cubes. Toss and turn. See the oil vanish. Toss some more, add another tablespoon of oil. Put on medium low, and chop garlic and parsley very fine. After some more tossing, ten minutes or so, add the garlic-parsley. Cook patiently on low enough to not overly burn the garlic, while watching some of the oil re-surface; grind some pepper over it when almost done (30 minutes or so, depending on your heat-regulating skills).
posted by Namlit at 10:07 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Imam bayildi. (I haven't used this recipe.)
posted by ernielundquist at 10:07 AM on February 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by ernielundquist at 10:07 AM on February 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
I like this recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything for curried eggplant with potatoes. You might have to modify based on the ingredients and spices you have on hand, but I think it can take some tweaking. I especially like the flavor of cauliflower in a curry.
posted by Kriesa at 10:14 AM on February 4, 2016
posted by Kriesa at 10:14 AM on February 4, 2016
Mario Batali's eggplant caponata. Seriously. It kills every time I make it.
posted by General Malaise at 10:14 AM on February 4, 2016
posted by General Malaise at 10:14 AM on February 4, 2016
You can never ever go wrong with a Nigel Slater recipe; here's one for his aubergine curry. It's dead easy.
posted by Kitteh at 10:14 AM on February 4, 2016
posted by Kitteh at 10:14 AM on February 4, 2016
This eggplant soup is delicious, although it really does not photograph well.
posted by crush-onastick at 10:21 AM on February 4, 2016
posted by crush-onastick at 10:21 AM on February 4, 2016
Madhur Jaffrey's Eggplants in a North-South Sauce is really good (you can use regular eggplant even though the recipe calls for baby eggplant).
posted by melissasaurus at 10:23 AM on February 4, 2016
posted by melissasaurus at 10:23 AM on February 4, 2016
The curry sounds nice, but if I wasn't in a curry mood I'd roast all the roastable veg, make a crust, and make a quiche/flan/savoury veg pie.
posted by kmennie at 10:27 AM on February 4, 2016
posted by kmennie at 10:27 AM on February 4, 2016
I have not yet tried this fried eggplant with chickpeas but I have it bookmarked and the photo makes me hungry.
posted by babelfish at 10:27 AM on February 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by babelfish at 10:27 AM on February 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
This, originating from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook, is my current favorite eggplant recipe.
posted by egregious theorem at 10:29 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by egregious theorem at 10:29 AM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Ha! I made quick-and-sloppy eggplant lasagne for lunch today: roasted eggplant slices stacked with ricotta, spinach, and marinara x 4 with a grate or three of a hard cheese.
posted by smirkette at 10:37 AM on February 4, 2016
posted by smirkette at 10:37 AM on February 4, 2016
I forget where I got this recipe for roasted eggplant soup, but it's a favorite.
ingredients
• 3 medium tomatoes, halved
• 1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds), halved lengthwise
• 1 small onion, halved
• 6 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
• 4 cups (or more) chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (about 3 1/2 ounces)
preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place tomatoes, eggplant, onion and garlic on large baking sheet. Brush vegetables with oil. Roast until vegetables are tender and brown in spots, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven. Scoop eggplant from skin into heavy large saucepan; discard skin. Add remaining roasted vegetables and thyme to same saucepan. Add 4 cups chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook until onion is very tender, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly.
Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to saucepan. Stir in cream. Bring to simmer, thinning with more stock, if desired. Season soup with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with goat cheese; serve.
posted by emelenjr at 10:58 AM on February 4, 2016
ingredients
• 3 medium tomatoes, halved
• 1 large eggplant (about 1 1/2 pounds), halved lengthwise
• 1 small onion, halved
• 6 large garlic cloves, peeled
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme or 1 teaspoon dried
• 4 cups (or more) chicken stock or canned low-salt chicken broth
• 1 cup whipping cream
• 3/4 cup crumbled goat cheese (about 3 1/2 ounces)
preparation
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place tomatoes, eggplant, onion and garlic on large baking sheet. Brush vegetables with oil. Roast until vegetables are tender and brown in spots, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven. Scoop eggplant from skin into heavy large saucepan; discard skin. Add remaining roasted vegetables and thyme to same saucepan. Add 4 cups chicken stock and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer. Cook until onion is very tender, about 45 minutes. Cool slightly.
Working in batches, puree soup in blender until smooth. Return soup to saucepan. Stir in cream. Bring to simmer, thinning with more stock, if desired. Season soup with salt and pepper. Ladle into bowls. Sprinkle with goat cheese; serve.
posted by emelenjr at 10:58 AM on February 4, 2016
Aubergine curry. Delicious.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:04 AM on February 4, 2016
posted by DarlingBri at 11:04 AM on February 4, 2016
If you like Chinese food at all, this is my favorite way to eat eggplant.
posted by monologish at 12:53 PM on February 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by monologish at 12:53 PM on February 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Lake Palace aubergine from Madhur Jaffrey's classic indian cook book. I leave out the fennel and use a whole teaspoon of kalongi (aka black onion seeds, indian stores sell them). I use olive oil.
posted by w0mbat at 2:04 PM on February 4, 2016
posted by w0mbat at 2:04 PM on February 4, 2016
I would try and create a faux-eel sushi, or if I'm lazy, the Japanese dish nasu dengaku, served with rice, miso soup, etc. It's extremely easy since you just slice it in half and put under a broiler.
posted by tofu_crouton at 2:35 PM on February 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by tofu_crouton at 2:35 PM on February 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Szechuan eggplant with garlic.
On preview: Not the same as monologish's recipe, but similar.
posted by koucha at 3:52 PM on February 4, 2016
On preview: Not the same as monologish's recipe, but similar.
posted by koucha at 3:52 PM on February 4, 2016
Boil the cauliflower then mash it up a bit.
Make rice or cous cous
Dice and fry the onion garlic and eggplant.
Cut the red peppers in half, deseed and put in the oven for a bit.
Mix the rice with everything else and put in the red peppers, now softish.
Cover with cheese and roast in the oven for a bit more.
posted by saul wright at 5:01 PM on February 4, 2016
Make rice or cous cous
Dice and fry the onion garlic and eggplant.
Cut the red peppers in half, deseed and put in the oven for a bit.
Mix the rice with everything else and put in the red peppers, now softish.
Cover with cheese and roast in the oven for a bit more.
posted by saul wright at 5:01 PM on February 4, 2016
Eggplant bacon! That assumes you have liquid smoke or are willing to buy it (there are other recipes but this is the simplest). And then I'd make something like this (this is vegan but plenty of scalloped potatoes recipes online).
There is also this, which, once again, you can probably sub cream/etc. There are also other eggplant/potato moussaka recipes out there.
posted by darksong at 5:32 PM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
There is also this, which, once again, you can probably sub cream/etc. There are also other eggplant/potato moussaka recipes out there.
posted by darksong at 5:32 PM on February 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
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Or baba ghanouj.
posted by Ms Vegetable at 9:57 AM on February 4, 2016