I love eggplant, and like Lambchop I have taken to using the smaller Asian eggplants almost exclusively, because it allows me to use eggplant as part of a dish without trying to figure out what to do with the rest of a big Italian eggplant. Also, I like having more eggplant skin in the dish.
This thread triggered a memory of a an old internet classic that I was happy to see is still around after more than twenty years - Ashbury’s Aubergines, completely devoted to eggplant recipes:
I don’t think it’s been updated in quite a while but the old content is still very much there. I especially enjoy all the recipes with comments by posters who believe that all nightshades are POISON and the ensuing back-and-forth.
Paryzer, we keep a package of the Dorot ginger (and basil as well–super convenient in a pinch and very fresh-tasting) in the freezer as a back-up for when we’re out of fresh. It’s good stuff. It’s available in many supermarket freezer cases in the Boston area but I usually get it at Trader Joe’s.
Well the restaurant isn’ t actually closed. I simplified things a bit. The restaurant is called Li Tai Pei and it is located in Lucerne. It used to have the reputation of being the best Chinese restaurant in Switzerland. I have never been to the Lucerne location. For a time they operated a branch in Zurich, and since it was quite close to where I worked at the time, I went there quite often. It is the branch in Zurich that has closed. I looked on their website and I looked at the pictures on Google Maps, but I didn’t find anything that reminded me of the eggplant dish.
Most people I know detest it. It seems like you either love it or you hate it. Haven’t met too many people that feel neutral about it. So happy DH loves it as much as I do.
I had no idea this thread would get so much traction. It has legs as they say.
Am so with you on the skin of the Asian eggplants. It looks beautiful when served and is never bitter. I buy a large produce bag full when at Asian markets as it’s so much cheaper than the supermarket. I just trim any brown spots off. I almost always peel the globes. DH brings them home when he shops, trying to break his habits. No luck yet.
I haven’t noticed a Sichuan version on this list yet, my favorite use of eggplant. Locally the Sichuan Garden and Sichuan Gourmet restaurants do nice ones.
I just made Fuschia Dunlop’s Fish Fragrant Eggplant with the long skinny asian eggplants and it was very good.
Thinking about what you wrote, I suppose in some instances I can understand the hate. I’m not sure there are many things worse than badly prepared eggplant … soggy, oily, seedy, burnt, cold, slimy shit show for which there is no fix.
Or breaded and fried with a crap ton of stringy no flavor cheese and the eggplant is still raw or way too spongy. I just say no to eggplant out unless I’m at an Asian resto or Greek, middle eastern place or etc. Best I’ve ever had out was at an Afghani place in Seattle. Oh and it was Globe eggplant too.
Ok here is a very solid recipe I call cheaters moussaka - when you’re craving the flavors but don’t have the time to make the real deal. I found it in a magazine in the early eighties and have made it innumerable times since. So easy & good.
1 lb of ground lamb or beef or combination
1 cup onion, finely chopped
2 cups unpeeled Asian eggplant (if using Globe, would peel, salt thoroughly on both sides and let stand an hour; rinse & pat dry)
Should be chopped in about 1 inch squares
1 cup potato, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1 tsp mild chile powder
3/4 tsp cinnamon* (if using the strong Vietnamese cinnamon cut back to 1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder plus 2 large cloves fresh, pressed or minced
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 eggs* if using Greek yogurt use only 1 egg
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 tsp Greek oregano rubbed together in your palms
In a skillet cook lamb or beef and onion til meat is brown and onion is tender
Drain off excess fat
Stir in eggplant, potato, tomato sauce, salt, spices and fresh garlic
Simmer, covered for 20 minutes or until eggplant and potatoes are tender
Stir in cheese
Spoon into a 1.5 quart casserole dish
Beat together eggs and yogurt, crumbling the dried Greek oregano in
Spoon atop eggplant mixture
Bake, uncovered in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes or until top is set
Makes about 6 servings
Enjoy!
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Harters
(John Hartley - a culinary patriot eating & cooking in Northwest England)
56
Aubergine is such a versatile vegetable.
Like the OP, I use it in baba ghanoush and pasta alla Norma. Also from the eastern Mediterranean, there’s imam bayeldi (we tend to do a healthy version where the slices of aubergine are poached in tomato juice rather than fried). And a Mallorcan meal wouldnt be a Mallorcan meal without tumbet (where it can accompany meat but can also stand alone as vegetarian main course or starter)
Yum. I really enjoy eggplant too. I usually stuff them. I really don’t know why I don’t cook it more often. I much prefer the Japanese, Chinese or Thai variety though. Not very find of the chunky Italian kind.
There are a few Nigerian ways I know to use it, first as a sauce: boiled, mashed and stewed with red oil, pepper, tomatoes, crayfish, and a few other basic spices. It is often eaten with boiled yam. Then it can be sliced as a garnish to some meals like Abacha (look it up if you can, can’t think of an English translation just yet). I really like it too.
Love it all ways. When our kitchen was being redone, I had a toaster oven and a gas grill to work with. I think the most repeated meal was eggplant roulade. We never tired of it. Eggplant slices grilled, ricotta, Parm etc for the filling and tomato sauce and mozzarella on top.
