Eggplant

Did you know that eggplant is a fruit? Eggplants belong to the same family as tomatoes and peppers. However, not like tomatoes, eggplants are non-climacteric fruit. Hence the storage is important. There was a study to research the best way to store eggplants. It was found that storing eggplants at +10C for 13 days did not reduce the beneficial qualities of the eggplant. (Food Chemistry, Volume 88, Issue 1, November 2004, Pages 17-24)

Eggplants contain anthocyanins, compounds that belong to a class of naturally occurring phytochemicals known as flavonoids. Many of the nutritional benefits gained from consuming eggplants are obtained from the skin of the vegetable. It is claimed that eggplants have an anticancer effect. It seems that anthocyanins extracted from eggplant not only ‘have antioxidant activities in colon cancer cells and also protect cells from DNA damage.’ (Food Chemistry, Volume 172, 1 April 2015, Pages 183-189)

Most excitingly, eggplants taste great. And there are thousands recipes for preparing eggplants. My favourite dishes with eggplants are various dips. If you bake eggplants at 180C until soft, you can make many types of dips. The simplest: use olive oil, lemon juice, cumin seeds, cayenne pepper, salt and garlic and process. Or dice baked eggplant with tomatoes and sweet onion, mix with minced garlic and olive oil.

In this post, I would like to share my recipe that I created many years ago. I cooked it very rarely then, probably because small children don’t usually like this type of cooking. In recent years, however, it has become a family favourite. Enjoy.

Eggplant Surf n Turf

Ingredients:

‘Turf’
3 eggplants
1/3 cup Besan flour
Salt and pepper
1/4 cup oil

‘Surf’
500g/1.1lb raw prawns, shelled
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup oat milk, barrister style
2 tbsp Besan flour
cayenne pepper

Cooking:

1. Slice eggplants into 2cm/1in thick wheels and soak in salted cold water in a large bowl for 20 minutes.
2. In a dry bowl mix Besan flour, salt and pepper. Drain eggplant slices and shake the excess water off.
3. One by one cover eggplant in the flour mix and shake off the excess flour.
4. Heat up a frying pan with little oil and cook eggplant wheels for 3-5 minutes on each side over medium flame. Transfer onto a large plate covered with paper towel. If Besan flour is left, save it for the next step.
5. Spray a small wok with oil and cook minced garlic until fragrant. Stir in saved Besan flour mix from the previous step or use new to make up 2 tablespoons.
6. Add milk and spice and heat through. If needed add extra seasoning. simmer for one minute and continue mixing until smooth and creamy.
7. Add prawns, cook constantly mixing for 2-3 minutes or until prawns change in colour. Serve eggplants covered with prawns.

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