Indian Eggplant, Sauce For Spicy Garlic Egg-plant
There is one surefire thing that sets me in a slight panic, and that is being asked to participate in a potluck. See, I’m definitely an eater, but I’m not much of a uh, cooker. And the thought of someone, other than a small group of relatives and friends, eating my cooking sets my heart racing, and not in a good way. But Internet, I don’t know what it is about you. You’ve got me telling you things I’ve told few, if any, others.
But rather than just confessing another bit of nonsense to you today (wait, I just did that), I’m going to show you something I’ve never showed anyone before—a photo I took…of something I cooked. Gulp.
Indian eggplant, rid of their stems and cut into quarter-sized pieces. You could also peel the skin, but I didn’t. And if you remove the seeds, there wouldn’t be much eggplant left. These are small, about the size and weight of Roma tomatoes.
Indian eggplant that’s covered in the spicy garlic sauce and garnished with a few sprigs of cilantro. Whew, that wasn’t so bad. (I’d put about a pound of the Indian eggplant in a nonstick pan, added two packets of sauce, covered the pan with a lid, and let it cook unattended on medium-high heat. After 10 minutes, I removed the lid, and stirred the Indian eggplant so that the sauce covered all the pieces. This is the Indian eggplant, minus a couple of pieces that burned and stuck to the pan. Yes, I did say that I used a nonstick one. I’m just keeping it real.)
I realize that I’m showing you only one photo of the cooked eggplant, and that it’s slathered in a pre-made sauce. Baby steps, okay?
P.S. The Indian eggplant was easy to prep and cook, so I’d get it again. The sauce, however, I probably won’t be buying again. It was spicy and garlicky, and tasted a bit like oysters. But it wasn’t great. If I were to get it again, I would dilute the sauce with a little water, because otherwise the flavor is too strong.
I like the skinny kind of eggplants. The times that I’ve tried to cook eggplant by myself, I feel I always make it waaay too …soy saucy and hot chili peppery. I want to cook it till the eggplant pieces are all completely soggy. (I also prefer soggy noodles over chewy). But anyway, that picture makes me think of (for the seeds) many golden coins cascading down a waterfall, haha. I don’t know, eggplant can be difficult to perfect. When it’s just boiled though, it makes my tongue itch.
Oh yeah, what do you think of preserved duck eggs? Personally, I don’t like them much. My mom cuts it up with soft tofu and adds soy sauce to it. I wonder why and how they get those cilantro-looking designs on them.
Lian: I usually get the skinny Chinese eggplants, but thought I’d try these since I don’t see them too often at the store. And I don’t like to spend a lot of time prepping food for cooking, so the size of the Indian eggplant worked well.
I have a small box of preserved duck eggs from Taiwan I’m planning to photograph. I like them; I usually eat them in congee and as part of an appetizer plate at Chinese banquet dinners. I can understand how some people would be (totally) turned off by their distinctive flavor, texture, smell, and looks—wow, they have a lot of things going against them, eh?
- Cindy
I remember on the show Fear Factor, the gross food challenge was to eat preserved duck eggs. Only, they called them 1,000 year old eggs. SO many people wouldn’t try them.
Lian: I totally remember that episode of Fear Factor! I was actually going to mention it in my preserved duck eggs post, whenever I get to it. My relatives and I certainly had a laugh over the contestants’ uh, fears.
- Cindy