keeping eggplants purple

[Darawen Littlestich]

I love oriental (long, purple) eggplants. I have had them in Chinese
restaurants where the eggplant is cooked thoroughly creamy and soft but
still retains the bright purple skin. Does anyone have any idea HOW they do
this? I have tried to recreate some of these eggplant dishes, but my
eggplant skin turns dark--no bright purple skin. Tastes fine, but I like the
purple color. What should I do?

[MB]

Post by Darawen Littlestich
I love oriental (long, purple) eggplants. I have had them in Chinese
restaurants where the eggplant is cooked thoroughly creamy and soft but
still retains the bright purple skin. Does anyone have any idea HOW they do
this? I have tried to recreate some of these eggplant dishes, but my
eggplant skin turns dark--no bright purple skin. Tastes fine, but I like the
purple color. What should I do?

iron and salt is the secret

good luck

MB

[DC.]

"MB" <***@nospam.com> wrote in message news:BF140AA6.38340%***@nospam.com...
<snip>

Post by MB
iron and salt is the secret
good luck
MB

brother MB how are you, haven't heard from you in a very long time, hope all
is well.

And to add another tip to the OP, we soak/submerge sliced eggplants in water
first before cooking. This helps remove the 'browning' of the white fleshy
parts when exposed to air like apples do.(when you pour the water away,
you'll see it's slightly brown/yellow in colour) It also helps keep the
sliced eggplants moist & crunchy when you stir fry them on one of those
restaurant style big flame wok burners. We do these for the Asian variety,
not sure if it works for any other. Hope this helps.

DC.

[Darawen Littlestich]

thanks for your reply MB and DC!

ok...let me see if i got this right. cut eggplant, soak in salt water,
drain and cook in cast iron? i have a teflon wok, a stainless steel frypan,
and a cast iron skillet, but i don't think the skillet will be able to hold
all my stirfry at one time (it's smallish). which would be the best item to
use in this case?

Post by DC.

Post by MB
iron and salt is the secret

And to add another tip to the OP, we soak/submerge sliced eggplants
in water first before cooking. This helps remove the 'browning' of
the white fleshy parts when exposed to air like apples do.(when you
pour the water away, you'll see it's slightly brown/yellow in colour)
It also helps keep the sliced eggplants moist & crunchy when you stir
fry them on one of those restaurant style big flame wok burners. We
do these for the Asian variety, not sure if it works for any other.
Hope this helps.
DC.

[DC.]

Post by Darawen Littlestich
thanks for your reply MB and DC!

No problem.

Post by Darawen Littlestich
ok...let me see if i got this right. cut eggplant, soak in salt water,
drain and cook in cast iron? i have a teflon wok, a stainless steel frypan,
and a cast iron skillet, but i don't think the skillet will be able to hold
all my stirfry at one time (it's smallish). which would be the best item to
use in this case?

I just bought(craved) some eggplants yesterday (after your post) & noticed
how dark purple it is(English/European variety) & remember the Asian variety
as lighter purple in colour. I guess to 'preserve' the skin colour of the
Asian variety during cooking, the trick is not to overcook it so it darkens.
Like all Chinese cooking, high heat (wok burner) cooks the food relatively
fast, in a searing kind of way so foods are cooked through w/o
burning/charring. Now regarding your choice of cooking implements, heavy
base frying pans aren't really suitable as they hold too much heat in the
thick base & even off the flame, it continues cooking. I'd say your teflon
wok or steel frypan(if it's w/o a heavy base) be the best bet. Heat the wok
on high heat until smoking, then add oil & again wait for it to smoke before
cooking. Ingredients are normally cut to small convenient cooking sizes &
added into the wok by priority of which takes longer to cook. If you're
using a domestic home stove which normally doesn't kick up as much heat as a
rest./street hawker wok burner, the trick is to cook in small batches to
make the most of the smoking hot heat in the wok. When i first started
cooking at home on a domestic stove, the number of times i've heated the wok
till smoking then thrown in a big batch of food only to hear it hiss then
die down & simmer for 5-10mins into a watery mess... i've learnt my lesson.
Now i have 2 wok burners in my outside kitchen & a reg. stove for 'normal'
cooking : )

hope this helps.

DC.

[Darawen Littlestich]

DC,
I made today--chinese eggplant with fried tofu. I read your technique too
late, after I made the dish. I don't think I heated the wok hot enough
because the egglants were still too crunchy so I practically had to "steam"
them done. This, of course, changed the color of the skin to brown inorder
for the eggplant to be cooked. The dish tasted great in the end--soft,
creamy eggplant but no purple skin. I'll try your technique next time (hot
wok). I have no outside kitchen tho.
thanks

Post by DC.

Post by Darawen Littlestich
thanks for your reply MB and DC!

No problem.
I just bought(craved) some eggplants yesterday (after your post) &
noticed how dark purple it is(English/European variety) & remember
the Asian variety as lighter purple in colour. I guess to 'preserve'
the skin colour of the Asian variety during cooking, the trick is not
to overcook it so it darkens. Like all Chinese cooking, high heat
(wok burner) cooks the food relatively fast, in a searing kind of way
so foods are cooked through w/o burning/charring. Now regarding your
choice of cooking implements, heavy base frying pans aren't really
suitable as they hold too much heat in the thick base & even off the
flame, it continues cooking. I'd say your teflon wok or steel
frypan(if it's w/o a heavy base) be the best bet. Heat the wok on
high heat until smoking, then add oil & again wait for it to smoke
before cooking. Ingredients are normally cut to small convenient
cooking sizes & added into the wok by priority of which takes longer
to cook. If you're using a domestic home stove which normally doesn't
kick up as much heat as a rest./street hawker wok burner, the trick
is to cook in small batches to make the most of the smoking hot heat
in the wok. When i first started cooking at home on a domestic stove,
the number of times i've heated the wok till smoking then thrown in a
big batch of food only to hear it hiss then die down & simmer for
5-10mins into a watery mess... i've learnt my lesson. Now i have 2
wok burners in my outside kitchen & a reg. stove for 'normal' cooking
: )
hope this helps.
DC.

[Tippi]

Also I believe restaurents deep fry the eggplant, which means high temp
and fast cooking, thus preserving the colour. Unfortunately eggplant
soaks up oil like a sponge!

[n***@pacbell.net]

Post by Tippi
Also I believe restaurents deep fry the eggplant, which means high temp
and fast cooking, thus preserving the colour. Unfortunately eggplant
soaks up oil like a sponge!

To minimize that, get your oil up to where it's just starting to smoke and
don't put in too much eggplant at one time, as that reduces the
temperature. Pull them before they stop bubbling. Slightly OT, but when I
make eggplant parmagiano, I flour, egg-dip and bread crumb the slices
before sauteeing in EVOO and butter.