eggplant

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Summerleahd
Summerleahd Posts: 314 Member
in Recipes
so on a whim. i bought an eggplant. Never had it before or cooked it. whats a good and easy way to cook this tonight for dinner?

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  • otr12
    otr12 Posts: 632 Member
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    I wanna know too. I've never tried eggplant.
  • Dawntodusk
    Dawntodusk Posts: 262 Member
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    I LOVE eggplant. But most recipes require ingredients that you might not have in your kitchen (not sure). You could make ratatouille (with zucchini and tomatoes). You could make babaganush (love this stuff), but you'd need tahini, lemon, and garlic. You could put it in thai curry (but you'll need thai curry paste, fish sauce and coconut milk.) Eggplant parmesan is yummy, too, but then you'll need tomato sauce, cheeses, breadcrumbs.

    Good luck!
  • theseagull
    theseagull Posts: 181 Member
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    I love eggplant and there is a healthy way to cook it ... we use it as a dip .. or a side salad.

    if you use gas cook .. put the washed with peel eggplant directly on the flam . stir it in each side to be grilled well . When it done, peel it and put it in the mixer + whatever you want ... I can suggest some yogurt - fresh lime juice .

    Hope u all the best
  • theseagull
    theseagull Posts: 181 Member
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    I LOVE eggplant. But most recipes require ingredients that you might not have in your kitchen (not sure). You could make ratatouille (with zucchini and tomatoes). You could make babaganush (love this stuff), but you'd need tahini, lemon, and garlic. You could put it in thai curry (but you'll need thai curry paste, fish sauce and coconut milk.) Eggplant parmesan is yummy, too, but then you'll need tomato sauce, cheeses, breadcrumbs.

    Good luck!

    Yes babaganush it the name of my recipe above. I forgot garlic ... and u can replace Tahini with yogurt.
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    This is what I did this week because I don't like to cook complicated meals.

    Peel the egg plant (weight it so you know how much to log on your diary), and slice it in not too thin or thick slices. Spry an oven dish with vegetable spray and cover it with some of the sliced eggplant.

    Add a tablespoon of your favorite tomato sauce on top of each slice, follow by a tablespoon of shredded low fat mozzarella cheese, or any other kind of shredded cheese.

    Pile another slice of eggplant on top and repeat (sauce and cheese), until you have no more sliced eggplant left. Bake at about 375 for 40 minutes, remove, sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top of each slice and baked for another 10 minutes.

    Eggplants are high in sodium, so I recommend that you don't salt the eggplant, since the sauce and cheese will give it enough flavors. It is a low calorie dish because you are not frying anything.

    Enjoy!
  • Missjulesdid
    Missjulesdid Posts: 1,444 Member
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    I vote babaganush. mmmmm. But like, DtD said, you'll need tahini, lemon and garlic.. It's basically like making hummus only you use roasted egg plant instead of garbanzos.
  • Peep_chic
    Peep_chic Posts: 369 Member
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    If you have tomatoes, mozzarella and italian seasoning

    you can make a healthy option of eggplant parmesan. Slice eggplant a bit thick, rince and add salt to it. Leave it for an hour and then in a 8x8 stack eggplant, tomato, mozzarella cheese and seasoning. Add minced garlic clove if you like. Bake 350 for 20 minutes.
  • notOpel
    notOpel Posts: 46
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    Eggplant is easier to cook than a lot of people assume. You can "sweat" it, which is when you put your cut of sliced eggplant into a bowl and sprinkle a little salt over it. Let it set in the refrigerator for 30 minutes and rinse it off. Sweating eggplant makes it less bitter and more tender, but if your watching your sodium its perfectly fine to skip this step. Allrecipes.com has tons of tried and tested recipes, so take a look there for inspiration. The other night I made a modified version of eggplant rollatini thats pretty simple and is way low on calories but it may be a little bland if your used to gourmet cooking and yields a light portion for two people.
    Slice your eggplant and then put a thin layer of fat-free cottage cheese, thawed frozen spinach, chopped mushrooms, and a sprinkle of low-fat part skim mozzarella cheese. Roll each slice up and place in a cooking dish and cover with marinara sauce, then cover and bake for about a half hour. The sauce will be bubbling and your eggplant will turn opaque and look "soggy". I used the recommended serving for each ingredient so the calorie count was around 237 a serving, which left room for whole wheat garlic toast and dessert. Eggplant is super versatile so thats just an idea to get your started... but if you try my recipe be sure to let me know how it turned out! :wink:
  • MissConfidence
    MissConfidence Posts: 441
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    honestly sometimes I like to just slice it into 1/2 inch or so slices, salt and pepper it, drizzle olive oil, and bake it for about 20 minutes on high. it's delich.
  • concordancia
    concordancia Posts: 5,320 Member
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    I slice the eggplant, roast in the oven for about 20 minutes and then use it instead of noodles for lasagna - spread ricotta on each slice, top with sauce, another layer of eggplant, ricotta, sauce, top with mozarella.
  • Peep_chic
    Peep_chic Posts: 369 Member
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    I slice the eggplant, roast in the oven for about 20 minutes and then use it instead of noodles for lasagna - spread ricotta on each slice, top with sauce, another layer of eggplant, ricotta, sauce, top with mozarella.

    interesting... I'm gonna have to try that sometime. I love guiltless recipes. :tongue:
  • Summerleahd
    Summerleahd Posts: 314 Member
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    thanks everyone! i think ill just do was missloser suggested since its the easiest right now and doesnt require much ingredents. but I will definatly try some others next time!
  • Summerleahd
    Summerleahd Posts: 314 Member
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    by the way my hubby is soooo not excited to be trying it this evening lol
  • romiga
    romiga Posts: 44 Member
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    I cooked eggplant for the first time two nights ago. I sliced them into disks about 1/2 inch thick skin on seasoned with a bit of garlic salt and powder then gave each disk a light spray of butter Pam on both sides. Then threw them on the grill about 2-3 mins on each side, it's yummy and healthy. You can use the same deal for zucchinis too! I officially love veggies now lol
  • Summerleahd
    Summerleahd Posts: 314 Member
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    Soo. I loved it! Even hubby liked it. But I was bad and I fried it. Next time I'll make it healthy I promise. Now I'm not so scared of it lol
  • koizumi6
    koizumi6 Posts: 274 Member
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    use eggplant slices in place of the noodles in a lasagna! yum! i also like adding ham or proscuitto slices on it and baking it with tomato sauce and mozz cheese
  • gailygail99
    gailygail99 Posts: 582 Member
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    mmmm i love eggplant. I just cut it into rounds, keeping the skin on. i sprinkle it with salt and pepper and some spray olive oil and cook it in a pan. i love it with some balsamic vinaigrette on it. so yummy!!! :bigsmile:

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