Kevin's Watch

I have two large eggplants I have to cook off. Can someone give me a tasty low-fat recipe suggestion? Easy would be good.

Cut lengthwise into slices. Marinate with olive oil, lemon juice, herbs (rosemary or such), crushed garlic, chili flakes, salt and pepepper. Grill or fry until soft and golden brown. Serve with feta or tzaziki.

Cut off a small slice from each eggplant (lengthwise) and scoop out pulp (leave walls about 1/8 inch thick). Cut pulp in small dices, season with salt,pepper, lemon juice, diced onions and garlic. You can sauté the filling first but you don't have to.

Mix with some cooked rice. You can add rasins or even seasoned ground meat (again you can sauté the meat first but you don't have to) if you like.

Stuff the eggplants with the filling. Sit in deep a casserole dish with tomato sauce. Add a bit of cheese on top and put in the oven for half an hour or so until the eggplant is soft.

Never eat eggplants uncooked. They contain solanine which is pretty toxic. Cooked until soft they are safe.

So what happened with the eggplants?

Another favorite:

2 medium sized eggplants
1 big onion
1 big red bell pepper
1 lbs ground beef or lamb (lean if you like)
olive oil
3 Tbs concentrated tomato purree
1 cup of water (or beef stock for more intense flavors)
salt
pepper
cumin
paprika
Harissa (hot chili paste with cumin and garlic)
3 cloves of garlic (or more)

Cut eggplant in 3/4 inch dices. Dice onion and red bell pepper.

Sauté the ground beef in a bit of olive oil until crumbly, add eggplant, onion and bell pepper. Let cook for 3 minutes.

Add concentrated tomato purree, Harissa, paprika and cumin. If you haven't got Harissa use chili powder and more cumin.

Add water (or stock), season with salt and pepper.

Let cook for 20 minutes. Add crushed garlic. Season again to taste. A bit of sugar won't do any harm.

Serve with rice, pita bread or couscous.

These are great! I am going to do one eggplant with the first recipe and the other with the third. Can I substitute ground turkey for ground beef? I have to go buy harissa tomorrow if I can find it.

Going to do the first one now. Stay tuned! I doubt it will look as pretty as your pics. Thanks Doc.

Any ground meat will do.

If you can't find harissa replace it with cayenne, more cumin and more garlic.

Today I made ratatouille.

Dice eggplants, zucchini, bell peppers and fennel, skin and dice some tomatoes. Cooked the vegetables together with some chopped onions and garlic in a bit of olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, rosemary, a dash of lemon juice and hint of sugar. Let cook covered for 30 minutes and thicken the juices with a bit tomato purree.

Don't know if it's low fat, but my wife's eggplant parmigiana is out freaking standing.

Defintely not low fat, but I take it at face value that it's extremely delicious.

I'd post the recipe but I'm sure you already know it: slice into medallions, egg wash, coat in Italian seasoned bread crumbs and pan fry in olive oil until golden brown, layer in casserole dish with marinara and mozzarella, bake at 350F for 45 minutes or until done...

Yummy! Parmigiana di melanzane, a southern Italian classic I gotta try these days. But shouldn't it be prepared with parmigiano cheese?

Something from India:

Cut eggplant in slices (1/3 inch) and season with salt and curcuma. Fry in oil until soft and golden and take out. Place on paper towels.

Roast black mustard seed (crushed), cumin, cayenne and paprika in the same oil for a few seconds, add chopped chilis, grated ginger and tomatoes (quartered).

Add yoghurt and let simmer for like 3 minutes. Add eggplants and half a cup of water .Let cook for another 5 minutes or so. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of lemon juice. Apparently Indians like it more bitter, I prefer to add a bit of sugar.

Vader wrote:

Don Exnihilote wrote:Don't know if it's low fat, but my wife's eggplant parmigiana is out freaking standing.

Defintely not low fat,

It can be a low(er) fat dish, but loses a lot in the translation, IMO.

Instead of frying, the eggplant is baked until tender. Some recipes bread the eggplant; others leave the eggplant plain.

Layer with the sauce and a low fat cheese, then bake again.

be careful pan frying eggplant, it absorbs a lot of oil.

They are sponges. That's why I place them on paper towels after frying. Gets a bit of the oil out again.