Eggplant recipes

JAPANESE EGGPLANT

“Nasu,” or Japanese eggplant, is a very popular vegetable. It contains polyphenols and Vitamin K; it is a powerful antioxidant and very low in calories. It is considered good for the treatment of eyestrain.

Tempura is a popular method of cooking eggplant. You’ll find a recipe for that below.


Simple Baked Eggplant
Serves 4-6

2 Japanese eggplants
1 tbsp usukuchi soy sauce
½ package or 1 ½ grams bonito flakes
Plastic wrap

Wash, prick once or twice with a fork (to prevent bursting), and wrap each eggplant individually until completely covered in plastic wrap.
Place in the microwave and cook until tender, usually 3 minutes on high.
Be sure they are soft. If not, cook for another 30 seconds.
Let them cool a bit before unwrapping. (They are very hot!)
Unwrap and cut lengthwise in half, and then slice each half diagonally into half-circles.
Place on a plate or in a shallow bowl.
Sprinkle with soy sauce, then bonito flakes.
Serve.

NOTE: Baked eggplant can also be cooled and added to salads.


Eggplant, Tomato, and Onion Salad

Ingredients:

2 Japanese eggplants
4 medium tomatoes
½ onion

Dressing ingredients:

¼ cup canola or corn oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp tobanjan spice (Chinese hot chili pepper sauce)

Wash, prick, and wrap each eggplant until completely covered in plastic wrap.
Place in the microwave and cook until tender, usually 3 minutes on high.
Be sure they are soft. If not, cook for another 30 seconds.
Let them cool a bit before unwrapping. (They are very hot!)
Unwrap and cut lengthwise in half, and then slice each half diagonally into half-circles. Set aside to cool
Thinly slice onion.
Cut tomatoes into bite-sized wedges.
When eggplant is cool, mix with tomatoes.

To make dressing:
Whisk together all dressing ingredients.
Add thinly sliced onions and mix.
Pour over vegetables.

Serve or put in the refrigerator to cool and serve later. Leaving the salad to cool for 30 minutes to an hour before serving allows the flavor of the dressing to permeate the vegetables.

If you don’t have Japanese eggplant, any other variety of eggplant will work well.

American red pepper sauce can be substituted for Tobanjan (Chinese hot pepper sauce.)

Tempura Eggplant with Spicy Sauce
Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

2 Asian eggplants (they are long and somewhat thin)
Oil for deep frying

Ø For tempura batter:

1/3 cup white flour
1/3 cup corn starch
1/3 cup cooking sake
Add ice water until the batter is the consistency of a thick white sauce

Ø For sauce:

½ Leek – cut small
½ inch grated ginger root
1 clove grated garlic
4 tbsp soy sauce
4 tbsp Mirin
1 ½ tbsp sugar
1 tsp to-ban-jan (Chinese hot chili spice)
2 tbsp rice vinegar

Cut eggplant into 1 inch lengths. Soak in cold water for 10 minutes. Dry it off.
While eggplant is soaking, mix the tempura batter. (The colder the batter, the crispier the tempura.)
Dip the dried eggplant pieces in tempura batter and deep fry (340 degree F oil) until light brown. Drain. Pat off excess oil. Place cooked eggplant in a serving bowl or plate.

Sauce –

Mix sauce ingredients in a ceramic (microwave safe) bowl. Heat for 1 minute in microwave to cook the garlic and ginger. You could either add the leeks before cooking, or if you prefer them raw, sprinkle them on the eggplant without cooking them.

Pour sauce over cooked eggplant. Serve.