Fried Eggplant with Rice and Tomatoes Recipe - Craving Tasty (2024)

FAQs

When cooking eggplant Why do we need to salt them before we cook them? ›

Salting eliminates bitter flavors that come from storing your eggplants too long or using older eggplants. Today's eggplants may be sweeter, but they still have some bitter liquid inside, especially if they are not fresh. Fried eggplant is crispier and more savory when it's been pre-salted.

Fried eggplant is on the list of summer vegetables that only get better once breaded and fried. Like fried okra and fried zucchini, eggplant becomes meltingly tender on the inside and crispy on the outside when fried.

What Does Eggplant Taste Like? Eggplant has a mild, subtly sweet flavor that can easily pair well with bolder seasonings and sauces. It can take on a bitter bite, especially when undercooked. If you like zucchini or yellow summer squash, you'll like eggplant since their flavors are very similar.

Heat 1/4 inch of grapeseed oil in a nonstick skillet over medium until hot enough for frying. The ideal temperature for frying eggplant is about 365-375 degrees F. The best way to monitor the temperature is to use a deep fry or candy thermometer; or, you can drop a small piece of bread into the oil.

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.

Age and Size: Whether an eggplant is mildly or extremely bitter can depend on the age and size of the fruit. (Yes, eggplant is a fruit.) Larger, more mature eggplants can be more bitter, typically because their seeds are larger and seeds tend to hold on to the most bitter flavors.

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.

When looking at the exterior of the eggplant, check the stem and cap. Both should be green and fresh-looking. If they are starting to fade in color, that's an indicator that the vegetable may be spoiling. You'll also want to toss the eggplant if there is any mold on the stem or cap.

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.

How to remove bitterness from eggplant without salt? ›

If you don't want to lose time by salting or soaking, you can always just cut away the seeds. The seeds tend to hold in most of the bitterness, and older eggplants can have a whole lot of seeds. Cut away the inner core of seeds and it should mitigate the bitterness.

However, eggplants also contain a substance, solanine, which is used to defend themselves against fungi and insects. It is precisely on this substance that the bitter taste of the eggplants depends. To eliminate it, the most common methods are soaking in water and vinegar and the salt technique.

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.