Stuffed eggplant - general principles and methods of preparation
Do you know that all of us know eggplant is a berry crop? Yes, this berry from the nightshade family is also called badridge or bubridge, but in our country they are often called simply blue. Eggplant is very useful, they contain a large number of minerals that have a beneficial effect on the body (iron, cobalt, copper, manganese). They improve the functioning of many organs and systems, because of their low calorie content, they are recommended for use by people who are overweight and obese.
You can cook them as an independent product, or as an ingredient in a complex recipe. The richest dish is stuffed eggplant. The filling can be just vegetables, mushrooms, meat, cheese or a mixture of these products. As a rule, stuffed eggplant is cut, stuffed with a mixture and baked in the oven or fried.
Stuffed Eggplant - Preparing Food
Breeders bred a variety of varieties in shape, size and color. Pear-shaped or almost spherical eggplants are much less common. Most often, oblong fruits of a blue form are grown, but absolutely white eggplants are also found. For example, the variety "White Egg" really resembles an egg, the British even call them Easter eggs. The Golden Egg is yellow and oval in shape. Well, our compatriots prefer blue varieties of dark purple.
It’s best to take medium ungrown oblong fruits with a small amount of seeds for stuffing. In overripe eggplants, there is a lot of solanine, so it is undesirable to eat them. In the Middle Ages, it was believed that solanine causes violence and hallucinations. In extreme cases, the core should be removed and washed in salted water. The age of the fetus is determined by the condition of the skin and legs: the skin should be without spots and folds, and the leg is green. Sliced eggplant should be salted and left for half an hour, so that bitterness comes down with the juice, so the dish will be much tastier. The washed fruits are ready to use.
Stuffed Eggplant - Best Recipes
Recipe 1: Eggplant Stuffed with Mushrooms
Not for nothing that some recipes for pickled eggplant are called mushrooms. These are very compatible products. They complement each other perfectly, especially if you take fresh fragrant forest chanterelles. Let’s try to fry them with vegetables and stuff small oblong eggplants to get a delicious, delicious dish.
Ingredients: eggplant (3 pcs.), tomatoes (3 pcs.), fresh mushrooms (you can chanterelles, 400 gr.), onion, dill, vegetable oil, mayonnaise, hard cheese (550 grams).
Cooking method
Cut the eggplant in half and take out the pulp, salt and leave for half an hour. We sort and cook chanterelles. For the filling, fry the mushrooms in vegetable oil with chopped onions, add the flesh of the eggplant and fry for another 7 minutes. Then add the tomatoes and chopped bunch of dill. Salt, pepper, fill on the baking sheet of eggplant boats with filling, grease with mayonnaise and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in the oven for about 35-40 minutes at 180C. The prepared eggplants turn out very beautiful, under the ruddy baked cheese, a real festive appetizer, best of course, of course, hot.
Recipe 2: Italian Stuffed Eggplants
Light, flavorful dish. So that the eggplants do not explode, do not forget to chop the skin. This dish is served in the best Italian restaurants, and it’s not difficult to cook it. It's all about the selection of products: mozzarella, basil, origano give a real Italian taste.
Ingredients: long eggplants (2 pcs), capers, small tomatoes, mozzarella (half a circle), parmesan, egg, origano, basil, a little olive oil.
Cooking method
Before stuffing, bake whole eggplants. Place them in the oven for about 30 minutes. Then carefully remove the core and get a boat. Fry the middle of the eggplant with tomatoes and onions in oil. Add them a little, add the egg, capers, chopped basil, and fill the boats. Cut the mozzarella into cubes and put it into the boats, sprinkle them with parmesan. Once again, send to the oven for about 25-30 minutes. Did Paremezan take a crust? So our dish is ready, do not wait, serve it to the table.
Recipe 3: Stuffed Eggplant with Pork
The meat with eggplant is perfectly digested, especially if the minced meat is cooked with the most tender tomatoes and baked with cheese. Bread makes the dish more saturated, it absorbs all the juice, and the eggplant remains soft and juicy.
Ingredients: medium young eggplant (4 pcs.), minced pork (400 grams), hard cheese (120 gr.), garlic (1 clove), onion (1 pc.), bread pulp (150 gr.), olive oil (100 gr), grated tomatoes (750 gr), ground black pepper, parsley.
Cooking method
Cut along the fruit and take out the pulp. This can best be done with a spoon. Salt and leave on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes. Tomato sauce: fry onions, add grated tomatoes, simmer for about 30 minutes. Add some basil. Separately, fry the onions and garlic and mix with minced meat. Add chopped eggplant pulp to the minced meat. Three more minutes on fire - and the filling is ready. Dress with sauce (3-4 tablespoons). Add the bread soaked in milk to the filling and stuff the boats. We lay them on a baking sheet and sprinkle with grated cheese. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
Recipe 4: Eggplant with Cottage Cheese
Quite a bit of cottage cheese will give our dish a completely new taste. It can be served as a side dish, appetizer, or as an independent dish, in cold or hot form. Tasty, low-calorie and nutritious.
Ingredients: cottage cheese (150 g), eggplant (1 kg), potatoes (200 g), tomatoes (200 g), vegetable oil, eggs (3 pcs), milk (200 gr.), half a lemon, parsley, garlic, salt.
Cooking method
Prepare the eggplant. We remove the core and the stalk, get rid of bitterness. Stew in vegetable oil with added water. Stew onion, potatoes (cut into slices), tomatoes and eggplant cores in the same juice. Mix lightly chilled mixture with cottage cheese and garlic. Add parsley and fill the eggplant halves. Lay the tomato mugs on top and fill with eggs whipped with milk. Bake until cooked, serve with sliced lemon.
Stuffed Eggplant - Useful Tips from Experienced Cookers
Many recipes for stuffed eggplants differ only in the composition of the filling. Prepared eggplant is filled with filling and baked in the oven. Here are some more toppings:
- Eggplant with oyster mushrooms. One and a half kg of eggplant: carrots (3 pcs), onions (4 pcs), oyster mushrooms or champignons (400 gr.), Parsley, vegetable oil.
- Eggplant with rice and mushrooms. For 2 kg of eggplant rice (1/2 cup), onion (2 pcs), vegetable oil (1/2 cup), chopped bunch of herbs, salt, pepper.
- Eggplant in Korean. For 1 kg - sweet pepper (500 grams), garlic (a few cloves), vegetable oil, vinegar, cilantro, paprika, turmeric salt.
