Tasty And Quick Cooking Eggplant

2024 Author: Gavin MacAdam | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 13:38

Among vegetables, eggplants are in the lead in taste, satiety and usefulness. Many people refuse to use them because of the lengthy processing procedures. Let's share culinary secrets, selection rules. Let's talk about how to quickly cook eggplants - this is grilling, baking in the microwave and oven

Learn to choose an eggplant

The success of culinary ideas depends on eggplants, you need to be able to choose them. The appearance depends on the variety. They are pear-shaped, drop-shaped, elongated, like a cucumber and oval-cylindrical. There is also a great variety in color: green, light lilac, white, striped. In stores, purple is more often sold and they are available all year round.

It is not difficult to choose a high-quality eggplant: the skin should not be wrinkled, but smooth-glossy, the body of the vegetable is dense, not very light and without dents. When pressed, there should be no traces. Remember that young fruits always have less bitterness, they are more healthy and tasty. Large seeds contain a lot of hard seeds. Pay attention to the stalk, it should be green. If the tail is dry or brownish - the vegetable is old, stale - do not take it. The presence of a whitish coating is a sign of bitterness.

How to get rid of bitterness and whether you need to peel eggplants

Today, breeders have received varieties that do not have bitterness. If there is still a bitterness in your vegetable, it is not difficult to remove it. Cut (into strips, slices, cubes) and salt. After juicing (20 minutes), rinse and lay on a towel to dry.

Young fruits have delicate thin skin and are cooked with it. Large, overripe ones are recommended to be peeled. This is done quickly with a vegetable peeler. Skinless flesh darkens quickly, so remove the skin before cooking.

Grilled eggplants

The benefit of such a product is the minimal presence of fat. As a result, you get a dietary product with a negative calorie content (the body spends more energy on digestion than is in the dish), eggplant contains 24 kcal.

A grill is not only a grill in the country, a similar method is used on special ribbed grill pans, a baking sheet with a grid, in a microwave with the appropriate mode. Grilling at home differs from charcoal cooking only in the absence of a smoky aroma. Sprinkle liquid smoke over the dish if desired.

The process begins with slicing the fruit into plates or mugs, and the skin is removed only if you later plan to use it in salads. Then we get rid of the bitterness with the help of salt, dry it, season with spices and put it on a greased wire rack. Fry each side until crusty, about 3-5 minutes. Many, before frying, to improve the taste, use the technique of aging in a marinade: olive oil + ground pepper + garlic + vinegar + parsley and mint.

Grilled eggplant is used as a side dish for fish, meat dishes, and is also ideal for appetizers, rolls, salads.

Eggplant in the oven

Small specimens are cut lengthwise into two parts, large ones - into slices, rings, sticks. We make a fragrant seasoning mixture. We pass 3-4 cloves through the garlic press, mix with 1 tbsp / l of vegetable oil + half an hour / l of salt + ground black pepper. Spread the prepared vegetable with the resulting mass, send it to a baking sheet and into a preheated oven. For final readiness, 15-20 minutes is enough.

Gourmets act differently: they bake in a cheese cap. A cheese-mayonnaise mixture is applied to the eggplant cut along the length. For 300 g of cheese (grate), 2 tablespoons / l. mayonnaise, a spoonful of flour, 1 egg. Baking is carried out at + 180-200 for about 20-25 minutes.

Eggplant in the microwave

You can bake a whole vegetable, cutting off only the ends. There is no need to clean, just a few deep punctures with a fork are enough. There are many recipes, consider the simplest and most popular: with garlic and onions.

We bake two medium vegetables in the microwave for 5 minutes, if the device is low-power, then 7-15. At this time, coarsely chopped onions are pickled in vinegar, half diluted with water. After turning off the stove, leave the vegetables there for another couple of minutes. We take it out, let it cool a little, cut it lengthwise, clean out the pulp. The peel is not needed.

Grind the eggplant mass, (blender, fork, crush) add squeezed onion, garlic crushed with a press-crusher, salt and pepper. You can fill with vegetable oil, mayonnaise.

Useful Tips

• Frozen eggplants do not taste bitter, so they can be chopped and stored in the freezer.

• For better grilling and to avoid overdrying, the slices should be 1 cm thick.

• The readiness of the vegetable is determined with a toothpick: a slight puncture, like in butter.

• When frying in hot oil, the bitterness disappears, so additional hassle with adding and rinsing is not required.