Eggplant

My dear friend Martha Deaton was raised in Malaysia, where she and her sisters learned to cook traditional Malaysian dishes from their mother. Martha’s sister, Margaret Hughes, has built a thriving London catering business based on the dishes of her homeland. The following is one of her most popular recipes. Although this dish, like so many Asian dishes, is traditionally prepared on top of the stove, I think it works well in the slow cooker. See what you think. Serve it hot, on a bed of steamed rice.

Muslims from Persia and Central Asia invaded India from the north and ruled much of the country during the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. As a culture, they are called “Mogul.” They brought with them a period of relative peace and affluence, unifying the native cultures and cuisines of India with those of the Persian Empire. Adding yogurt to a dish is a Mogul touch, as is sealing food with dough in a clay pot and cooking it directly over the coals of a fire. The following recipe is a typical Mogul-style dish, cooked in your slow cooker instead of over a fire. Add the yogurt at the last minute to avoid curdling. (Note: If you cut the eggplant into cubes, the dish makes an excellent sauce for pasta.) Serve with basmati rice.

While I was playing around with salad ideas in my head, my good buddy Elliot happened to email me asking if I’d make him a grilled-vegetable salad with a Sriracha vinaigrette. He’d been gallivanting about our local farmers’ market and forwarded to me a list of produce that had looked appealing that day. We gave it a go not long after, and I hope you do, too.

Try this Mediterranean-inspired stew with fresh corn on the cob; a salad of mixed baby greens, colorful bell peppers, and mushrooms; and some crusty bread spread with hummus.

This soup was a favorite discovery of mine while traveling through New Orleans and across the American South many years ago. It’s still a soup love to make when in the mood for eggplant.

This hearty curry becomes the centerpiece of a satisfying meal served over hot cooked grains, and accompanied by Chapatis (page 158) and a simple, palate-cooling salad of cucumbers and tomatoes.

This recipe has a Middle Eastern flair and is great as a vegetarian main course or a side dish for a larger meal. The lentils provide all the protein needed for a complete meal. Bulgur is a form of wheat (the wheat berries are steamed, dried, and ground) often used when making veggie burgers or tabbouleh. You can easily prepare this meal without the bulgur; just be sure to omit the water as well.

Believe it or not, eggplants have genders. Look for male eggplants, which have a shallow scar at their base, rather than female eggplants, which have a deeper indentation like a belly button. Male eggplants have fewer seeds and supposedly taste less bitter.

This is a complete and hearty vegetarian meal. To make this meal vegan, just omit the feta cheese or use a soy or rice cheese substitute. Try this dish with mozzarella cheese for a different flavor combination.

While my mother wouldn’t be caught dead serving jarred marinara sauce, I’ve found quality organic brands speed up prep time and taste as good as homemade. Sometimes I’ll doctor the sauce with fresh tomatoes, zucchini, or green peppers from the garden. Or I’ll add roasted green chiles (available frozen, canned, or fresh in the fall) or red pepper flakes for a flavor boost. If using a nondairy cheese, be aware that brands containing casein retain more of the creaminess associated with real cheese than those without. While the presence of casein shouldn’t affect most lactose-intolerant people, it is an animal product and could cause those allergic to dairy to have a reaction. Instead of using prepared marinara sauce, you could stir the herbs directly into a can of crushed tomatoes and pour this mixture over the layers of eggplant.

Eggplant with garlic sauce is one of my favorite dishes at Chinese restaurants. This version tastes slightly different because it is not wok-fried; it is much less oily than the traditional version but has a similar sweet/spicy/salty sauce. I like to use sushi rice in this recipe, but any kind of white rice or even parboiled precooked brown rice will work. Use this recipe to make almost anything with garlic sauce—broccoli, tofu, chicken, or whatever you like. Edamame are soybeans. The Japanese traditionally like to munch on these, boiled and salted, as a healthy source of protein. If you aren’t familiar with jicama, try it—it is a light, crunchy, slightly starchy root vegetable. It peels easily with a vegetable peeler and is wonderful raw in salads or as a crudité. If not using jicama, substitute carrots or celery in thin strips or a four-ounce can of sliced bamboo shoots, drained.

This recipe reminds me of lightly cooked and dressed salads shared under the endless skies above the Greek isles. I spent one summer during college working in a restaurant on the island of Rhodes and found many opportunities to savor the Greek flavors. To truly get into the spirit, you’d have to serve dinner with candlelight, plenty of retsina, and lots of laughter! For firmer, more al dente lentils, use 1/2 cup dry lentils and 1 cup of liquid instead of canned.

Our Aunt Peggy does a zucchini bake for every get-together, and it is so good that we decided to try cooking eggplant the same way. Since we don’t fry it, this is a healthier, easier take on your standard eggplant Parmesan, and, served over spaghetti with a crisp romaine and tomato salad, it makes a delicious vegetarian meal. (Of course, you can always add grilled chicken breast, if you prefer.)

Here’s another way of giving leftover lamb new life. I’d always thought that this sumptuous Middle Eastern dish that envelops lamb in eggplant was quite a production, but done this way it takes less than half an hour to put together and is worth every minute of effort.

Eggplant is a particularly good receptacle for leftovers, such as cooked rice or grains and the remains of a roast. When I’m using eggplant, I usually roast it in the morning, or the night before I’m going to stuff it. Then it takes only about 40 minutes to be ready to enjoy. This stuffed eggplant is good hot, warm, or at room temperature, so you can to take it on a picnic, or to the park for lunch.

Crystal’s sister, Cindy, has always been a fantastic cook, but recently she has found a special connection in the kitchen. During a year-and-a-half-long treatment for breast cancer, she found that cooking is amazing therapy. Not only has Cindy been a great sounding board for our recipes, she concocted this easy, nutritious, and delicious dish that is so tasty that we just had to share it with the rest of the world. Go Cindy! Go Cindy!

If you think you don’t like eggplant, I bet this recipe will change your mind. And if you do like eggplant, feel free to make these bigger for a yummy eggplant burger!

I first learned this dish for my good friend Lake Bell, a vegetarian I really wanted to have over for dinner. When I don’t have vegetarians at the table, I serve this as a side dish, but even my meat-loving friends like it so much that sometimes they make it their whole dinner with a salad of romaine lettuce and Grey Moss Inn White French Dressing (page 160).

Steaming eggplant gives it a suave, custardy texture that helps it resist soaking up too much oil, setting it up for this rich dressing. I like Anaheim chile flakes here, which are milder than the standard-issue chile flakes. They provide sweet pepper flavor without too much heat.

This way of cooking eggplant makes the flesh soft and creamy. The miso glaze sweetens it with a Japanese flair.

The beauty of this recipe is that the oven does the work while you leisurely prepare a salad and set the table.

A hearty stew with a robust taste, just right with the nutty flavor of bulghur wheat.

This sandwich was developed through our Fresh Air Fund Internship Program by three industrious and talented teens. See page 106 for the story behind the sandwich.