Some disappointing eggplant - any "frying" suggestions?

douglernerold · January 2011

I love eggplant. At least I thought I did. I'm wondering now if I actually like the butter or oil flavor of sauteed eggplant better than the eggplant itself.

I've used Pam before to saute eggplant and I like it fine. But I'm out of Pam and they don't sell it here. I didn't want to use olive oil because I'm trying to save the calories.

So I tried a "dry fry" in a non-stick pan, heating the sliced eggplant until it sort of browned from the heat.

The taste was sort of "blah" and not very satisfying.

Any low-calorie suggestions for alternatives to frying without oil or butter and if Pam-like things are not available here?

Thanks,

doug

SunLove8 · January 2011

Good topic, I would like to know as well. I LOVE making my eggplant parmasean; however, I haven't made it since I started on here because I know it's got to be loaded with calories.

Mindful_Trent · January 2011

I would highly recommend eggplant parmesan for an eggplant dish. It's not as calorie-lite as plain eggplant, but this is an easy, delicious dish that can be adjusted to make it a little healthier (I make it with less cheese and a healthy low-sodium sauce). I've never actually had eggplant any other way... My mom, who always said she didn't like eggplant, really likes this dish!

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/eggplant-parmesan-ii/Detail.aspx

highrise · January 2011

If you like spicy food, sprinkle some cumin on it first and then fry. Use a couple of drops of olive oil and smear it around the pan; that way you're not drowning the vegetable or piling on the cals but you still get that satisfying fried taste - with a kick.

Yearoftherabbit · January 2011

Hey Doug!
I love eggplant, but it seems like every time I cook with it, it turns out different. Glad you posted your post, because it got me thinking about what I can do different next time.

Here are a few idears that popped to mind:
I know you requested pan frying/sauteing ideas, but have you tried baking or roasting?
I like to marinate mine in low cal balsamic dressing, something that has lots of spices/garlic, then throw it on the stove and toss it with other veggies.
Or you could chop it up bite-sized and add other veggies and add stewed tomatoes/herbs and bake in the oven.
It also works well in stock, so if you find a chicken or flavorful stock and allow it to marinade a bit, then when you fry it up, it will have those flavors.
This guy has a great cooking blog with a search engine on his page to search for recipes based on ingredients:
http://www.closetcooking.com/
I entered "eggplant" into the search engine and there were pages of results.
I hope that helps! Let me know what you try and how it turns out.

Amy

laughingdani · January 2011

I have dry fried it like that before and then topped it with a marinara sauce.
The sauce seems to help with the bland flavor. Also I agree with the above poster.
Cumin is awesome!

Dani

YourFriendBecky · January 2011

Eggplant is notorious for soaking up oil... maybe use regular olive oil in a little spray bottle if you're going to fry. You could try cooking it in a bit of broth instead of oil but I don't know how that would go.

Also you can get a lot of flavor from spices. I used to make ratatouille a lot, with eggplant, mushrooms, green pepper, tomato, onion, zucchini, a couple tbs of olive oil for the whole pot, and lots of garlic and Italian seasoning. Very tasty over rice. Mmmmm, now I'm hungry for that.

msbanana · January 2011

I made little eggplant pizzas that were YUMMO!
I dredged the egg plant slices through a beaten egg and coated them with seasoned flour. I pan fried them, topped them with a chunky marinara (mushrooms, chicken, onions & green peppers) sprinkled with a little bit of low fat part skim mozzarella cheese and broiled them to melt the cheese and crisp the edges. They were AH-MAZING!! :bigsmile:

I made the sauce from (almost scratch) the night before. They were fast, easy and super delish. :drinker:

Edited to add Calorie content- when I did up the recipe on here a serving which was about 6 1/4 in slices topped- ended up being about 260 cals.

dmmarie21 · January 2011

I have yet to try this recipe, but, I plan to soon!

http://www.hungry-girl.com/newsletters/raw/866

Bzbear2 · January 2011

I love to roast eggplant! Either slice and toss with a bit of olive oil or just cut in half and stick it in the oven - let it really roast to get the best flavor.

Other ideas:

- sautee with canned tomatoes - the eggplant will "soak" up the tomato juice. Yum
- use in curry
- dredge in egg and breadcrumbs and then bake (instead of frying)

mm yum.

douglernerold · January 2011

Thanks for all the suggestions. Yes, it's true that eggplant really soaks up the olive oil. I was surprised the time I tried it with just 1 T and it was like gone instantly.

About spraying it - would that turn it into my own Pam and I can almost ignore the calories in each spray? Probably no such luck.

Anyway, I'll try some of the suggestions posted.

Thanks,

doug

WritingMyLife · January 2011

I make eggplant parm by coating the eggplant slices in Egg Beaters then italian breadcrumbs, spritz with Pam or similar and back at 400 degrees, 10 minutes on each side. Once that is done, layer with sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella/parmesan and bake to melt the cheese.

I know eggplant is very spongy with oil. I imagine roasting would work well. Toss the eggplant with 1 tblsp of oil and a healthy sprinkle of basil then bake at 400 until done to your taste. Could do the same and saute it. I know Pampered Chef makes a spray bottle that you fill with oil and then pump it up and it emits a fairly fine spray. I have seen something similar in the regular grocery store.

douglernerold · January 2011

Well, here's a non-oil frying suggestion I just tried that doesn't work. It wasn't eggplant, it was boneless breast of chicken and strips of mushroom.

I put a small level of water into the non-stick fry pan and added a bunch of spices I like (cumin, garlic, pepper) and then added the food. I cooked everything until all the water boiled out hoping it might leave things sort of browned and a bit crispy. It doesn't.

First, the water boils and cooks the food thoroughly. But then it SUDDENLY vanishes from the fry pan leaving the spices mainly stuck to the bottom of the pan instead of the food.

It was edible, but nothing like I imagined. I could have boiled the food and added some spices afterwards for the same effect.

I may have to try broiling them in my tiny convection oven next time, as was suggested here by a few people.

doug

p.s. By the way, if you haven't gathered so already, I am a terrible cook. A few years ago I had to look up on the Internet how to boil eggs. No joke.

dmmarie21 · January 2011

Don't worry about it

I have to look up how to boil eggs everytime I make them lol.

douglernerold · January 2011

Well, I found a simple solution to the problem and had a delicious dinner of boneless breast of chicken and sliced long mushrooms browned nicely in the non-stick fry pan.

My solution? Olive oil.

I discovered (believe it or not for the first time) that a mere 1 teaspoon of olive oil (just an added 40 calories) works just fine. It probably wouldn't be enough for eggplant, but it seems to work fine for chicken, mushrooms and some "pumpkin chips" I made for a snack today.

Well worth the 40 calorie investment!

So maybe instead of "oil free" the thing to concentrate on is "very small amounts of oil."

doug

yanicka · January 2011

bump for later

Some disappointing eggplant - any "frying" suggestions?

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