Stuffed Eggplant

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Fuzzy

Assistant Cook
Joined
Feb 9, 2011
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I'm making Turkish Stuffed Eggplant for dinner tonight, and the recipe calls for me to put some deep cuts in the eggplant halves and put salt on it and then let it drain for an hour. If I prep them this morning, would it ruin the eggplants?
 
I mean, if I did the salt thing this morning and then put it in the fridge until this evening would the eggplants be ruined?
 
No, you could even just leave them as is with a clean towel over top until you are ready. This step is to draw the moisture out of the eggplant. It needs a minimum of an hour to do this.
 
I mean, if I did the salt thing this morning and then put it in the fridge until this evening would the eggplants be ruined?
No, and depending on the type of eggplant you use, it'll have a better creamier texture with the half-day cure. It won't look pretty, though. Eggplant flesh oxidizes, plus the osmotic moisture, makes it look rather spoiled. I prefer soaking them in heavily salted water for an hour or more.

Good luck. What will you stuff with?
 
I'm making Turkish Stuffed Eggplant for dinner tonight, and the recipe calls for me to put some deep cuts in the eggplant halves and put salt on it and then let it drain for an hour. If I prep them this morning, would it ruin the eggplants?

Please post recipie and/or pictures - this sounds good.
 
Mmmm, it was a total success! I ended up curing it for about 4 hours, and yeah it looked all brown and stuff.

Here's the recipe, I'll post pictures later, but I didn't make it look pretty or anything.

3 medium-sized eggplants, sliced in half lengthwise
salt
1/2C + 3T extra virgin olive oil
3 medium onions, finely chopped
1 lb ground beef (I used ground turkey because it was what we had)
4 tomatoes cut into cubes and 2 tomatoes thinly sliced
freshly-ground pepper
1 C water
1 T finely chopped parsley (The recipe doesn't say what to do with this, so I skipped this)

Make several deep cuts in the eggplants. Place in colander. Sprinkle with salt and led drain 1 hr. Heat 1/2 C oil in large skillet over medium heat. Fry eggplants for 10-15 min or until the flesh has softened. Drain well on paper towels. Heat remaining 3T of oil in large frying pan over medium heat. Saute onions for 8-10 minutes or until lightly brown. Add ground beef and brown over high heat for 5 minutes. Add cubed tomatoes, salt and pepper. Lower heat and let simmer 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400* and arrange eggplants in a large baking dish. Spoon the meat sauce into the cuts on the eggplants. Cover with tomato slices. Pour water into the pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or until tender.
 
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