Aubergine!!!

[GingerBeverage]

I have never, never been able to cook aubergine (brinjal, eggplant) satisfactorily.
It always either turns to repulsive mush or inedible paper.
This time I've followed the recipe exactly
and still it's garbage.

Please, someone tell me what you do!

Bake in the oven whole like a potato with just piercing the skin. Leave in at 170 degrees for an hour or less if small. Scoop out flesh and put salt and pepper to taste.

Or grill thin slices and use it like you would lasagne sheets. Moussaka is lush.

Trying to put enough oil on it to cook pieces is a fool's errand I'm afraid (and it took me years to realise!)

@namechange34 I've never thought to bake it like that. I love aubergine so will definitely try that.
I often chop up roughly :
Onion, courgette, aubergine, pepper maybe cauliflower too. All in a deep baking tray drizzle with oil, and Italian herbs and smoked paprika and roast.

Trying to put enough oil on it to cook pieces is a fool's errand I'm afraid (and it took me years to realise!)

I've been doing this!

Turn it into babaganoush/mutabal, very easy and delicious.

Roast with lots of other veg (peppers, courgette, squash, sweet potato, cauliflower, red onion) and olive oil, smoked paprika, whatever you’ve got) Maybe chickpeas. Eat with feta sprinkled on top.

Slice thick and cover with salt and leave for a while to draw the moisture out if you want it to be firmer, this works well for curries. Get rid of bitterness in some big ones too.

Roast whole most of the way, then slice in half length ways and drizzle with oil and salt and pepper and cook for the last 5-10 mins.

I love a good aubergine

If you sprinkle salt on it, leave for 20 mins then rinse the water off that helps before you cool it

If you sprinkle salt on it, leave for 20 mins then rinse the water off that helps before you COOK it

When I do this roast veg it’s a packed baking tray so it doesn’t dry out. Doing a mix of tomato paste, veg stock powder, maybe more paprika, mixed up with boiling water and then drizzling over the veg half way through cooking is a great way to get more flavour in too. Almost a baked ratatouille.

I just chop it up, spray with oil and whack it in the oven? Always turns out fine!

Oil your griddle; griddle thinnish slices; season with garlic salt. 🤤

Poke a few holes with a fork and put it whole in the slow cooker.

Aubergine exhausts me.

I grill it, griddle it, make babaganoush, stir fry, bake it whole, roast with other veg, layer to make veg moussaka. I eat at least three a week. I've just roasted some in slices with basil oil and chilli and eaten it with poached eggs and spinach on top.

I love it sliced, drizzled in plenty of oil and barbecued then eaten hot with lots of salt. Once all the flesh is clear and there is some crispiness it's done. As long as it's eaten while it's hot it never fails to be delicious.

Used as lasagne sheets as mentioned already never goes wrong, I find baked is hit or miss and can be slimy in a cueet so don't tend to do that.

Curry not cueet.

Slow cooked aubergine sounds rank. Doesn't it just turn to tasteless mush? How do you serve it?

You need some Ottolengi recipes!

I've never been successful with aubergine before but since getting the 'Simple' cookbook I've done at least 3 different recipes which include aubergine and are bloody delicious

Halved and scored into the flesh with a bit of oil drizzled over, then into a hot oven for 30 mins. I serve it with crumbled feta and a herb, garlic, lemon juice and olive oil dressing.

jay Glad I'm not alone

@ShowOfHands

I grill it, griddle it, make babaganoush, stir fry, bake it whole, roast with other veg, layer to make veg moussaka. I eat at least three a week. I've just roasted some in slices with basil oil and chilli and eaten it with poached eggs and spinach on top.

You are my soulmate, @ShowOfHands

Aubergine is absolutely my favourite vegetable. Agree with the Ottolenghi suggestion up thread.

High five Family!

It's so versatile. You can keep the humble potato, aubergines are the basis for so many diverse meals. You can have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner and it's delicious.

I can't grow them though. I do try every year.

Aubergines are my favourite! I love them in a curry with chickpeas, or simply roasted. Loving all the ideas on this thread!

Aubergine fritters in a spiced batter.

Jamie Oliver's scruffy lasagne. Aubergine game changer.
You can thank me later.

slice it relatively thick, and then paint oil on the top side with a pastry brush.

preheat a griddle to SMOKING hot and you want the ribbed side up, lay the aubergine oil side down and brush oil over the un oiled side which is now the top

leave it there until you can pick it up without poking it...if it sticks to the griddle it's not ready to be turned and your griddle probably wasn't hot enough, turn it over and do the same to the other side

Use in moussaka.

I have never bothered with anything else with aubergines cos they are weird and flabby unless sliced and seared and hidden in delicious lamb and feta :o

You have to try fried aubergines with honey, they are a typical "tapas" dish from the south of Spain, but not very well known to foreigners.
You peel the aubergines and chop them as you would with potatoes to do chips. Make a batter with flour and beer (there are lots of recipes out there but whatever batter you are comfortable with will do) and cover the aubergines with flour before dunking them in the batter to deep fry them.
Get rid of the excess oil with a paper towel and then serve with drizzled honey and salt on top. Yum!

love berenjas con Miel MrsMully

OP - my favourite aubergine recipe is Fucshia Dunlop Fish Fragrant Aubergine (there is no fish in it -its a term used to describe Sichuan cooking - its the BEST aubergine ever... I'll post the recipe if you're interested....