Eggplant Loving!
Today I over came my distaste for eggplant.
(Actually, that happened in China when I chanced eating at a locals house for lunch and the husband made an eggplant dish, I think I was the only one eating it, they refilled it twice, and it was amazing. So much food and so good).
So, I have this mentality that I should be varying my dietary intake; that is, eating foods that I wouldn't normally eat because I don't like them, even though I know they have nutritional benefits. Since I've started doing this a lot of my hangups on certain foods have been changing to be more accepting. Most notably, bananas. Hated them before, now I love them.
As an example; if it's been over a month I'll go a buy mushrooms or brussel sprouts, or maybe some beans etc.
I decided today that I haven't really given eggplant a chance so I picked up two today along with some tomatoes and portabellos and researched, "how the hell does one prepare eggplant anyways?", and followed a pretty simple procedure and came out with one fucking amazing dinner. I winged the recipe on my own for the most part because my cupboards are incredibly bare. No garlic or onions...
I split my eggplant into long strips with the skin still on and then salted them pretty heavily and left them to leak [or weep] for about 45 min, then I rinsed them off and sponged them dry with some paper towel. The salt apparently pulls out the bitter flavors.
I made a paste with; canola oil, curry, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, coriander, salt, fresh ground pepper and tomato paste. Half a can. My boy told me there was a recipe that was just eggplant and tomato paste so I took that idea and mixed in a ton of spices and oil.
I took the mixture and lathered it onto the eggplant that I had laid out into a thin casserole dish. I threw that in the oven on 350 for forty five minutes. I diced up a portabello and two tomatoes and threw those on top for a few minutes and the stirred them into the oily mixture for a few more minutes. At this point I had some rice cooking.
When the rice was finished cooking I put it in a bowl and threw in fresh spinach on top and then skinned the eggplant on top of the spinach.
All in all I think it took me 2 hours to make including the leaking phase of the eggplant. But sooo worth it. This dish is amazing. <3
(Actually, that happened in China when I chanced eating at a locals house for lunch and the husband made an eggplant dish, I think I was the only one eating it, they refilled it twice, and it was amazing. So much food and so good).
So, I have this mentality that I should be varying my dietary intake; that is, eating foods that I wouldn't normally eat because I don't like them, even though I know they have nutritional benefits. Since I've started doing this a lot of my hangups on certain foods have been changing to be more accepting. Most notably, bananas. Hated them before, now I love them.
As an example; if it's been over a month I'll go a buy mushrooms or brussel sprouts, or maybe some beans etc.
I decided today that I haven't really given eggplant a chance so I picked up two today along with some tomatoes and portabellos and researched, "how the hell does one prepare eggplant anyways?", and followed a pretty simple procedure and came out with one fucking amazing dinner. I winged the recipe on my own for the most part because my cupboards are incredibly bare. No garlic or onions...
I split my eggplant into long strips with the skin still on and then salted them pretty heavily and left them to leak [or weep] for about 45 min, then I rinsed them off and sponged them dry with some paper towel. The salt apparently pulls out the bitter flavors.
I made a paste with; canola oil, curry, cumin, cayenne, chili powder, coriander, salt, fresh ground pepper and tomato paste. Half a can. My boy told me there was a recipe that was just eggplant and tomato paste so I took that idea and mixed in a ton of spices and oil.
I took the mixture and lathered it onto the eggplant that I had laid out into a thin casserole dish. I threw that in the oven on 350 for forty five minutes. I diced up a portabello and two tomatoes and threw those on top for a few minutes and the stirred them into the oily mixture for a few more minutes. At this point I had some rice cooking.
When the rice was finished cooking I put it in a bowl and threw in fresh spinach on top and then skinned the eggplant on top of the spinach.
All in all I think it took me 2 hours to make including the leaking phase of the eggplant. But sooo worth it. This dish is amazing. <3