Denver Eggplant, Episode 3: Thai eggplants with kumquat-garlic sauce

(See last entry for explanation of this particular challenge.)

The manner in which my eggplant-related activities are presented on this blog may lead you to believe that I conducted the Thai/Talong taste-test before attempting to cook a dish. This would have been smart. But no, alas, I stupidly barged ahead and made a dish with Thai eggplants before conducting preliminary experiments.

The result was a dish that, while it appears appetizing in photos, was a bit of a failure. I feel, however, that this presents a perfect opportunity to talk about improvisation in the kitchen, the potential for disaster, and learning from mistakes.

Well... namely that. Improvising in the kitchen is fun, failures happen, and mistakes teach.

For instance, before I attempted to cook with Thai eggplants, I assumed that they would be just like every other variety I have cooked – frying them in oil would break them down quickly, at which point they would assume the ideal state of creamy softness. It turns out, though, that Thai eggplants are different from other varieties in the following ways:

a) With the exception of a thin layer of flesh on the outside, Thai eggplants are densely packed with hard seeds.

b) Because of this, they take ages to break down. I fried them in steep oil for about 10-15 minutes before they softened.

c) Once the eggplants break down, the patterned skin blisters and peels off in an unattractive fashion.

Full of seeds.

In future, I would cook the eggplants in such a way that I could remove the seeds and skins before serving (e.g., oven-roasting). I’m curious to know how they are prepared in Thai cuisine (all the eggplant dishes I’ve eaten in Thai restaurants are cooked with Chinese eggplants). Do Thai people simply eat the seeds? Do the seeds provide an important texture element? Or are the eggplants meticulously de-seeded and skinned before they are tossed in the wok?

My pseudo-failed experiment was Thai eggplants with kumquats in kumquat-garlic sauce.

Somehow, in my mind, this was going to be obscenely delicious because I recalled eating whole kumquats as a child. My nostalgia caused me to forget how strong kumquats are, such that I used way-too-many way-too-large chunks. The sauce also turned out a bit sour from all the kumquat juice and pulp.

A soy-sauce-based garlic sauce with kumquat juice instead of rice vinegar.

I used a few of these Thai bird's-eye chilis whole to impart spiciness.
 These chilis are almost as hot as habaneros, so take caution.

My mother owns a wok, allowing me to appear badass while cooking.

The eggplants took forever to cook, probably owing to the seed pockets.

Eventually they broke down; here you see the blistering peels.

I fried some onions with juiced kumquat halves.

Then added the sauce.

Then simmered everything together.

The recipe was not entirely a bust, however. The sourness of the sauce was tempered after the dish sat out on the counter for a couple hours. The kumquat flavor did turn out to be a nice complement to the garlic sauce. And above all, it looked kind of pretty.

Appears appetizing...

If anything, I hope my tale of eggplant-woe will encourage, rather than discourage, kitchen improvisation. You never know when one of your kitchen experiments will yield superb results; and if it fails, it was a learning experience. I, for instance, learned that I am generally lousy at Asian cooking.


But ideally, all kitchen experimenters have significant others with no taste-buds who will unquestioningly gobble up the failed leftovers. Right?

Denver Eggplant, Episode 2: Thai and Philippine varieties

GUESS WHAT.

The most exciting occasion for any eggplant blogger: new eggplants!

I got my hands on two varieties of eggplant that I’ve never tried, namely because they are only available in well-stocked Asian groceries and I have no car/rarely leave my stuffy abode.

While visiting my relatives, I took a trip to H-Mart, the Vietnamese/Korean/Japanese/Thai/Chinese superstore. I discovered the following in the produce aisle, at which point I mentally jumped up and down:

H-Mart sells six different eggplant varieties: common, Italian, Chinese, Indian, Thai and Talong (or Philippines eggplants). While the first four are familiar, as you may observe from my "Fab Four" recipe series, the last two I had seen only in pictures.

Thai eggplants are the glossy, hard globes on the left, 
while Philippines eggplants resemble Chinese eggplants with neon-green spray paint.

I decided to do a taste-test to compare the flavor of the two.

I sautéed the two varieties separately in olive oil. 

It’s almost as difficult to describe subtle flavors as musical timbres, but I’ll try my best: Thai eggplants have an immediate tart, chlorophyll-like bite, with a sour/bitter punch; like artichokes, their sweetness comes as an aftertaste. They lack the smooth creaminess of many eggplant varieties, featuring instead an aggressive, plant-y taste. Talong eggplants, in contrast, taste very much like Chinese eggplants – they are creamy and sweet with no real bitterness and a subtle, almost mushroomy flavor. If you’re faced with a decision between the two, I’d opt for the Talong over the Thai, for reasons which you will discover in my next entry. (Thai eggplants are undoubtedly cuter, though.)

Trying out new eggplants was enough of a treat that I’m newly motivated to locate Chicago-based sources of unusual eggplants. I'm hoping that, later in summer, heirloom eggplants will surface at local farmer’s markets.

A sack of eggplants sits abandoned amongst the apples.

Denver Eggplant, Episode 1: Kim Ba Restaurant

Kim Ba is a family-owned Vietnamese restaurant in Aurora (outside Denver). The restaurant has always been unassuming from the outside, sandwiched between a shoe store and a cleaners in one of Denver’s many unattractive strip malls. I revisited the restaurant after many years’ hiatus to find the decor completely unchanged, down to the fake plastic fish spinning through a neon-lighted bubble tube and the miniature shrine near the bathrooms. Allegedly the restaurant was founded by two sisters, Kim and Ba, whose three-dimensional caricatures are mounted in wood on either side of the small dining room.

Kim Ba has somehow managed to create an eggplant dish that -- with the sole exception of undercooked slabs of white onion – is about as perfect as it gets. Their eggplant in bean sauce contains coconut milk, pepper flakes, a hint of fish sauce and soy sauce, and Vietnamese-style fermented beans (which are larger, milder, and lighter in color than their Chinese counterparts).

Though I can discern many of the ingredients in this dish, I doubt I can ever replicate it. My mother (whose improvisational cooking abilities are far superior to mine) has been attempting to recreate this dish for a long while, and though the attempts are always delicious, it never turns out quite right. I’ll either have to keep trying, or simply make sure to visit Kim Ba every time I'm in the area.

And though this doesn’t have to do with eggplant, I’d also recommend the seitan noodle bowl for vegetarian Kim Ba customers. It’s some of the most delicious fake meat I’ve ever had (probably because it’s cooked on the same grill as the pork... alas).

Eggplant Adventures in Denver

I just returned from a trip to Denver in which, believe it or not, eggplant-related adventures occurred:

1) I revisited one of my favorite eggplant dishes in a restaurant that my family has frequented for years. 

2) I did not attempt to cook the dish from #1 because my chef skills are inadequate for such a high degree of yumminess.

3) I discovered two new varieties of eggplant.

4) I attempted to cook one of the varieties and the result was paradoxically both photogenic and unappetizing.

Look for reports on these adventures in the next few entries. 

Fab Four, Episode 4: Chinese eggplant with oyster mushrooms in black bean sauce

(See entry titled “Fab Four” for an explanation of this series.)

I don’t profess to being capable of cooking truly authentic Chinese cuisine. Still, this dish is a far cry from the soy-sauce sprinkled stir fry that often characterizes failed American attempts at Chinese cooking. While I don’t happen to have a wok, I’d recommend using it if you have one, as it will make you look super intense.

I’ve discovered that I love fresh oyster mushrooms – they have a sort of chewy, creamy earthiness to them that I find perfectly complements eggplant. Shitakes would also be a delicious addition to this dish, as would rehydrated woodear mushrooms. (Note that woodears have no real taste, only texture.) If you can’t find a grocery that sells fresh oyster mushrooms, it’s better to use ordinary white mushrooms than oyster mushrooms from a can, given that canned mushrooms are sort of nasty.

If you’d like more protein, add some wedges of firm or extra-firm tofu. If you prefer your tofu with a golden crisp on the outside, try frying it first, setting it aside and adding later.

Before I dive into the recipe, note that I use this storebought black bean paste, which primarily contains fermented beans, soy sauce, and garlic.

If you’d rather make the recipe from scratch, you can buy Chinese fermented black beans from an Asian grocery; the beans are small, dark black, and extremely salty. To make your own paste, crush up about 1 Tbsp of beans and add about 1/2 Tbsp soy sauce and a crushed clove of garlic for this recipe. Or make a larger quantity of paste and put in the fridge for later.

Ingredients

With the addition of rice or noodles, serves 2

2 Chinese or Japanese (ichiban) eggplants

1 good-sized bunch of fresh oyster mushrooms

cooking oil

1 1/2 Tbsp black bean paste

slightly less than 1 Tbsp rice vinegar (either black or white)

1 1/2 Tbsp sugar

1 tsp tapioca starch (or corn starch, but tapioca makes the sauce clearer)

3/4 c water

Cut the eggplants lengthwise and slice in 1-inch wide diagonal slices.

Cut the oyster mushrooms off the main stem and sliver the larger mushrooms into pieces approximately the same size as the eggplant wedges.

Whisk together sauce ingredients. As starch has a tendency to clump, you may wish to dissolve the starch in  water before adding to the sauce.

Fry the eggplants in a good amount of oil – if they look spongy, don’t be afraid to add more. Give the eggplants a nice brown sear on all sides, remove from pan and set aside. Meanwhile, fry the mushrooms.

A few minutes into cooking time, these are still looking spongy. Cook ca. 5 minutes longer.

When mushrooms have been slightly seared, pour in the sauce. It will look cloudy at first...

but as it bubbles and thickens, it will gradually become translucent and sticky.

Return eggplant to the pan and simmer until eggplant is soft all the way through, about 3-5 minutes. Garnish with fresh scallions and/or cilantro if desired. Serve straight off the stove with rice or rice noodles.

Even the chopsticks are happy!

That’s it for the fab four series! Coming up: anatomy, fusion cuisine, Southwestern, a tribute to bitterness, and oh so much more.

Fab Four, Episode 3: Tunisian-style eggplant salad

(See entry titled “Fab Four” for an explanation of this series.)

As the common eggplant is the largest of our four varieties, it works well in recipes that call for a good quantity of mashed or chopped eggplant flesh. This Tunisian-style salad has a balance of tartness from lemon, sweetness from eggplant, and a spicy kick from red pepper flakes. It is best served warm with toasted pita as an appetizer or side dish.

Ingredients

1 medium-large eggplant

2 large or 3 small garlic cloves

red pepper flakes, paprika, ground coriander

a handful of chopped parsley

juice of about 1/3 lemon

olive oil

salt to taste

Begin by baking the eggplant whole in the oven on 350°F for about 30-45 minutes, or until eggplant is so soft that it yields to poking. Some eggplants are stubborn and take longer to bake -- adjust baking time as you see fit.

Poking may be employed to determine whether the eggplant is done.

When the eggplant is baked to mash in this way, the skin should come right off as if you were unzipping a coat.

Let the skinned eggplant cool a bit, then remove the seed pockets and wring the flesh gently over the sink, removing as much of the bitter juice as you can. (If you taste your eggplant and it isn’t too bitter, you can skip this step. Be warned that baking can sometimes bring out the natural bitterness of the eggplant.)

Removing seeds.

Chop the wrung eggplant into mash.

Heat up a nice-sized pool of olive oil on medium.

About this much oil. Less oil is OK too -- I like my mush oily.

Fry the eggplant mash in the oil, stirring in crushed garlic, a good-sized dash of red pepper flakes, a good-sized dash of coriander, and a small dash of paprika. (Adjust spice quantity to suit your individual taste.) After sautéeing for about 5 minutes, add the juice of about 1/3 lemon, allowing the liquid to boil off. Salt to taste.

Turn off heat and stir in chopped parsley. 

This salad is delicious either warm from the stovetop or cold the next day.

Kitty lurks about.

Extra bonus tip:
Fresh herbs like parsley and cilantro keep in the fridge much longer when you trim the stems and put them in a jar of water.

Fab Four, Episode 2: Turkish Imam Bayildi

 (See earlier entry, “Fab Four,” for the premise of the next four entries. And also cute pictures of my cat sniffing eggplants.)

My second recipe involves the Italian eggplant, which is similar in size to the Iranian variety. Owing to its smallish size, I decided to make one of my favorite dishes of all time, Imam Bayildi (or Imam Baildi). This Turkish dish supposedly translates as “the priest fainted”; as the story goes, an imam who encountered this dish was overwhelmed by all the oil and swooned.

The best thing about this straightforward dish is the long cooking time, which allows the tomato mixture to caramelize; in fact, if it isn’t thoroughly caramelized when you take it from the oven, you’re removing it too soon. This dish is especially good after sitting overnight. It is best served at room temperature or slightly warmed on a pile of fava beans or braised greens.

Ingredients

Serves 4

2 Italian eggplants (or other comparably petite varieties)

4 ripe tomatoes

1 medium onion

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 good-sized handful of fresh parsley, minced

1 good-sized handful of pine nuts (which unfortunately I didn’t have today, pardon their absence)

ca. 1 tsp sugar

salt and pepper to taste

Cut eggplants in half, coat spongy side in olive oil, and roast in the oven at 350°F for about 10-20 minutes, or however long it takes to prepare tomato mixture.

Chop onion and sauté in olive oil until translucent. Add crushed garlic. Don’t leave garlic in the pot for too long before adding tomatoes: garlic will burn fast and burnt garlic is pretty nasty. 

Add chopped tomatoes and cook down for about 10 minutes. 

Add sugar, salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in pine nuts and parsley. Remove eggplants from oven. Top each eggplant with a generous pile of tomato mixture and return to the oven for 30-40 minutes – however long it takes for the outside to become caramelized.

Imam Bayildi is delicious with flatbread, spicy olives, and a slab of white cheese (like feta, smoked mozzarella or Turkish-style farmer's cheese). Mmm... I’ve eaten about five times today and I’m salivating anyway. 

Fab Four, Episode 1: Indian eggplants with date chutney

(See previous entry, “Fab Four,” for the premise of the next four entries.)

 My first recipe will feature the wee little Indian eggplant. These eggplants have a naturally sweet, fresh taste and they cook quickly to the ideal state of mushiness. This improvised recipe worked well, the only shortcoming being that it was rather oily. Try coating the pan with a thin layer of oil, rather than frying in steeper oil as I did... in the meantime, I’ll continue to experiment with ways of making these eggplants less greasy. The flavors, however, were delicious. ("Were," past-tense, because I ate them all.)

I should mention that the onion date chutney is inspired by a near-identical dish served at Marigold, a Chicago modern Indian eatery. Mine is tastier, however, due to the addition of more salt and several hefty squeezes of lime.

The final result.

Recipe #1.  Fried Indian Eggplants with Raita and Onion Date Chutney

Appetizer, serves 2 – be sure to double or triple the recipe unless cooking for self or romantic candlelight dinner

Ingredients

4 Indian eggplants

1/4-1/8 c chickpea flour (can substitute wheat flour if desired)

pinch of salt

turmeric, paprika, cumin, coriander

1/2 c plain yogurt

Some carrot

Some cucumber

ca. 15 pitted dates

1 vidalia onion

crushed red pepper

1 lime

olive oil

peanut, corn or canola oil for frying

Eggplants

Remove the leafy flaps from 4 Indian eggplants, leaving the stems attached. Trim stems down to a stub.

Combine chickpea flour with salt, turmeric, paprika, and cumin. 

Moisten the surface of each eggplant and dip face-down into flour. Pour a nice-sized pool of frying oil in pan and heat on medium-high. Fry eggplants face-down in oil until browned, then turn and cook other side; the eggplants should cook very quickly. Remove from oil and place on paper towel to soak excess grease.

Raita

Mix yogurt with shredded or chopped carrot and cucumber, coriander, and salt to taste.

Onion Date Chutney, the highlight of this dish in my opinion

Note: this recipe makes a LOT of chutney, enough to feed a whole family of chutney gnomes.Try halving or even quartering the recipe if you don’t anticipate spreading chutney on your toast for the next two weeks.

Coarsely chop vidalia onion and sauté in olive oil until caramel-brown. 

Add ca. 15 dates, 1/2 cup water, a good dash of crushed red pepper flakes and paprika. 

Simmer on low-medium for about 10 minutes, adding water to avoid burning. Add salt to taste.

 Place stewed mixture in food processor and squeeze in the juice of 1 lime. Purée until smooth.

The resultant combination is great as an appetizer, or could be coupled with a bowl of rasam soup, roti and some salad for an Indian lunch. 

Rasam, eggplant and red pepper relish, yogurt, lime pickle, cucumber
and greens salad -- all possible companions to fried eggplants with chutney and raita.