You want to prepare eggplant, but don't know how to do it best? We will show you a variety of recipes for the vegetables and give you tips on how to prepare them.
Frying eggplant in a pan
To prepare the eggplants in the pan, wash them thoroughly, and remove the stalk.
Then cut them into slices about 0.5 centimeters thick and sprinkle them with salt. Salting is optional, but it removes water from the vegetables so that they retain their firm consistency during frying and absorb less fat. It also makes them taste less bitter.
After 15 minutes you can dab the slices with kitchen paper.
Finally, brush them with a little oil on both sides and fry them in a coated pan without adding more oil.
If you want to stew the eggplant together with other vegetables (for ratatouille, for example), cut it into cubes. After frying, you can put it on kitchen paper to absorb excess fat.
Preparing eggplant in the oven
Another way to prepare eggplants is to bake them in the oven. To do this, you can follow the steps described above and roast the oiled eggplant slices on a baking tray at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes. Alternatively, cut the eggplant lengthwise, carve the flesh crosswise and add olive oil, a crushed clove of garlic and salt.
If you prefer stuffed eggplants, you should hollow out the vegetables beforehand and fry the flesh - the combination with feta and tomatoes, for example, tastes great. We also offer delicious casseroles, such as our recipe for eggplant moussaka or our eggplant lasagna.
Preparing eggplant on the grill
In summer you can easily grill an eggplant - either in the form of medallions (try our recipe for spicy vegetable taler) or on a skewer. For the latter, you can dice the vegetables or cut them into thin slices - then you can turn them into these delicious eggplant skewers with goat yoghurt dip.
Puree the eggplant
If you are looking for a delicious dip, you should try Baba Ganoush! This is a cream from the Arabic cuisine with eggplants, garlic and tahini. The eggplants must first be roasted in the oven for 30 minutes, then the pulp is pureed together with the other ingredients - the paste is perfect as a side dish to bread or vegetable pans.
Further preparation tips for eggplants
Eggplants belong to the nightshade family and, just like potatoes, contain the bitter substance solanine. In high doses, solanine is toxic to humans, so you should not eat eggplants raw. However, once the vegetables are cooked, they are safe to eat. You can also eat the peel of eggplants, it should be washed thoroughly before eating.