Eggplant “Unagi”: Easy Recipe! - The Woks of Life (2024)

FAQs

How do you cook eggplant without losing color? ›

Soak the eggplants in a vinegar water solution for 5-10 minutes also helps preserve the beautiful purple eggplant color after they are cooked.

What's the difference between eggplant and Chinese eggplant? Chinese eggplants have fewer seeds than globes, which reduces their bitterness. And they have a thin skin. While they can be substituted for each other, globes may be less sweet, influencing the outcome of the final dish.

Can the skin of Chinese eggplants be eaten? Yes, the skin of Chinese eggplants is edible and tender, especially when cooked properly.

While you're cooking — After chopping or peeling your eggplant, cover it in lemon juice or store it in a mixture of cool water and lemon juice to prevent enzymatic browning.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

"When you lay them on the tray to roast, make sure they're in a single layer and give them enough room to roast properly. Eggplant is about 80 to 90 percent water, so when you put them in the oven they need space to evaporate all that water and caramelize properly," says Covarrubias.

drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper then toss well in a bowl using a rubber spatula. spread out on tray and bake at 240°C/ 450°F for 20 minutes, flip, then for another 10 minutes, until the eggplant is super soft and caramelised on the edges.

One of the most popular was the long, thin, purple eggplant from Taiwan known as Ping Tung. This is an exceptional eggplant with sweet, pleasant tasting flesh. The plants are incredibly prolific and produce throughout the entire season. They are more disease resistant than other eggplants.

Chinese and Japanese eggplant are similar to each other in size and shape, which is to say that they are long and slender. The difference is that Chinese are lighter purple, and Japanese are a dark purple like the American eggplant.

Well, way back in the 1700s, early European versions of eggplant were smaller and yellow or white. They looked like goose or chicken eggs, which led to the name “eggplant.” The eggplant has been around for a long, long time.

Why can't you eat eggplant raw? ›

Can You Eat Eggplant Raw? Luckily, the answer is yes! While the leaves and flowers can be toxic, the eggplant itself is safe to consume both raw and cooked, and the compound that some might be sensitive to, solanine, is only toxic when consumed in large quantities.

It showed that they could reduce levels of specific enzymes that influence sugar absorption, helping reduce blood sugar. Eggplants fit well into current dietary recommendations for controlling diabetes, which include a high-fiber diet rich in whole grains and vegetables.

As in selecting any eggplant, look for those that have shiny skin without soft spots or blemishes. They should be firm to the touch. If the skin is dull, that means the Chinese eggplant is too ripe and should be avoided. When cut open, the skin should be white rather than yellow.

You don't need to remember all this complicated science, the key here is to boil the eggplant with a little bit of vinegar and keep them under the water. It takes about 6-8 minutes over high heat. Of course, it depends on the thickness of your eggplant. Remove them from the water and let them cool.

While the skin of a small young eggplant is edible, the skin becomes bitter on larger or older eggplants and should be peeled. When in doubt, the answer to, "Do you peel eggplant before cooking?" is yes, peel it. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the skin.

Soaking eggplant in water and vinegar helps remove some of the vegetable's natural bitterness. This step also helps preserve some of the skin's color so it stays a vibrant purple even after cooking.