Eggplant Spread Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to cooking eggplant? ›

One of the secrets to cooking tender-but-never-mushy eggplant is salt. First, Stilo cuts her eggplant into the desired shape (rounds, cubes, planks, etc.), and then sprinkles the eggplant evenly with a generous amount of salt.

Eggplants can be grilled, steamed, braised, stir-fried, deep-fried and roasted. For a smoky flavour, turn whole eggplants over an open flame on the barbecue or stovetop until the skin is charred, then scoop out the flesh. Choose eggplants with smooth and shiny skin that is even across the surface.

Here's how to do it:Slice or cube the eggplant as desired. Sprinkle salt over the eggplant pieces and let them sit for about 30 minutes. Rinse the salted eggplant under running water to remove the salt. Pat dry with a clean towel before using in your recipe.

Melitzanosalata is a simple, rustic Greek eggplant dip made with roasted, perfectly smoky eggplant with garlic, parsley, red onions, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. It's the perfect appetizer with pita or your favorite bread; or serve it next to grilled meats or even fish.

Salting: Salting removes excess liquid and some of the bitterness. Today's eggplants are bred for mildness, though, so it's not as important as it used to be (if you are frying eggplant, salting will ensure a creamy texture and rich flavor). This method works for eggplant slices, cubes, or planks.

I tend to soak the slices in a bowl of water with a couple of tablespoon of salt for about 30-45 minutes. It doesn't have to do with bitterness, but I find that in doing this, the fried eggplant turns out less greasy," Jenkins says.

You can't eat eggplant raw, but you can cook eggplant in many ways: boil, steam, sauté, stir-fry, braise, bake, deep-fry, grill, broil, and microwave.

One of the most popular was the long, thin, purple eggplant from Taiwan known as Ping Tung. This is an exceptional eggplant with sweet, pleasant tasting flesh. The plants are incredibly prolific and produce throughout the entire season.

The bitterness in eggplants is primarily due to the presence of naturally occurring compounds called glycoalkaloids, particularly solanine. These compounds are more concentrated in the skin and the seeds of the eggplant.

How do you cook eggplant so it's not spongy? ›

“The absorptiveness of eggplant can be reduced by collapsing its spongy structure before frying,” he writes. Which you can do by microwaving it before frying (!) or salting slices that'll draw out the water and close up those air pockets, giving you a firmer flesh to work with.

You don't. The skin is entirely edible, though with larger eggplants it can be a little tough. If your eggplant is young, tender, and on the small side, the nutrient-rich skin can probably be left on for skillet frying or braising. Otherwise, peel the skin and then slice or cube the flesh.

Soak it in milk.

Soak eggplant slices or cubes in milk for about 30 minutes before cooking. The milk not only tempers the bitterness, but it actually makes for eggplant that is extra creamy, since the vegetable acts like a sponge and soaks up a good amount of milk in its flesh.