Cooking Eggplant
A Guide to Cooking Eggplant
Unless you are from the south or the Middle East, you may not be very familiar with cooking eggplant. Technically a fruit, the eggplant is actually referred to and served as a vegetable. Even those who have never used this versatile produce, cooking eggplant can be easy with just a little know-how.
You have probably seen the eggplant in the produce section of your favorite grocery store. The knack of choosing a good one is simple; look for an eggplant with smooth, shiny purple skin free of bruises, blemishes, brown spots and a clean green stem. It should be heftier than you expect, and should not be mushy or overly soft to the touch. Since eggplant only last about a week once home in the refrigerator, buy only the amount you will need for your recipe.
Many recipes are available for cooking eggplant. Because it is a multi-purpose “vegetable”, it can be added to soups or stews, sautéed, fried, baked and stuffed with great success. There are different trains of thought on the skin of the eggplant. It is an edible part of the vegetable. Some cooks leave the skin on and serve it that way with the intent of eating it along with the flesh, while others swear that the best results are received by peeling the eggplant. Since it is known to be edible, leaving the skin on or peeling it off before cooking eggplant will be a personal preference.
One important fact to know about eggplant is that its flesh tastes somewhat bitter. After slicing, soaking the eggplant in heavily salted water will remove the bitterness. After soaking, rinse the slices in cold water and pat dry before cooking eggplant in your recipe. From this point, depending on your recipe, you may need to dice, slice or shred the eggplant, or leave it in the slices.
Some of the better known recipes for eggplant are ratatouille, eggplant parmesan and grilled eggplant slices. There are multiple other ways of cooking the vegetable that will appeal to a broad audience. For vegans or just those who are decreasing their intake of meat products, the eggplant can be cooked, mashed and combined with breadcrumbs, spices and egg to make patties; a meatless hamburger. Any soup or stew will be enhanced through the addition of eggplant. Cooking eggplant as a main dish casserole will sneak in some extra vitamins and protein to your family without them suspecting a thing. Since eggplant is high in sodium, reducing the amount of salt added to the recipe will keep the sodium count to a healthier level.
By learning more about the vegetable, anyone can become a pro at cooking eggplant; even if you have never used it before in your recipes.