Eggplant Or Aubergine

What Are Eggplants, How To Cook Eggplant

Not many people eat the eggplant raw it is generally cooked in some form or the other. However, a type of aubergine (image shown on this page) is sometimes eaten raw in Thailand. Fresh and tender eggplants of this type are eaten raw by dipping in spicy dip sauces. You might also find a Thai eating this eggplant by dipping it in a dry mixture of salt and chilli powder. The Thais either cut the eggplant into small strips and eat it raw or take a bite from the raw vegetable piece by piece. There have been no other reports of the eggplant being eaten raw so we presume that this is done only in Thailand.

Cooking aubergines depends on the recipe being followed, an eggplant could be fried, steamed, stuffed, baked or even roasted. In India, big purple rounded eggplants are roasted on an open flame. The burnt skin is then peeled off and the roasted flesh of the aubergine is prepared into a delicious dish. Other ingredients like onions, brown sugar and seasoning are added to the dish. In this eggplant recipe, the flesh of the aubergine becomes soft and pulpy, it is not of cutting consistency and is therefore mashed into a paste.

For most eggplant recipes, the following preparation of the aubergines would be required. Wash the aubergines in clean running water, cut off the stock from each of the eggplants. Depending on the eggplant recipe and the type of eggplant that is required, cut the eggplant into strips, slices or cubes. Very few if any, eggplant recipe would advise you to scrape or take off the skin of the eggplant before cooking. Most professional cooks prefer to leave the skin on the aubergine, it is believed to add a unique flavour and texture to the eggplant dish. An aubergine recipe that needs the aubergine to be roasted, might instruct you to take off the skin after the eggplant has been roasted.

Some recipes advise you to apply salt to the pieces of eggplant before cooking. Consider this as an optional requirement if you use fresh and tender aubregines. Cooking stale and overmature eggplants might cause the eggplant pieces to absorb significant amount of oil if they are fried. The rubbing of salt on the aubergine cut pieces is meant to reduce their oil absorption when fried, tender and fresh eggplants will not absorb too much oil when fried so the salt rubbing is really not necessary. In any case, if you do rub salt on the eggplant pieces, wash the salt off in running water just before frying the eggplant pieces, allow the pieces to dry and then do the frying. If you are cooking eggplants following a recipe that does not require the eggplant to be fried, the issue of rubbing salt becomes irrelevant.

Firstly remember that fresh and tender aubergines are much tastier and also less bitter. These eggplants will absorb less oil when fried. You will also not need to worry about rubbing salt on the eggplant pieces (to reduce oil absorption) if they are tender and fresh. Another good thing about the eggplant is that it is grown and available throughout the year. When you shop for any type of aubergine, buy a quantity that will be utilised in a day or two. Fresh and tender eggplants can be stored for around 3 to 4 days in the compartment of your refrigerator that holds other vegetables. If you have no option but to buy slightly stale or overmatured aubergines, buy sufficient to cook just that meal and try to ensure that none remain.