How to clean the eggplants: the procedure to empty them through soaking (2024)

FAQs

How to clean the eggplants: the procedure to empty them through soaking? ›

Of course this depends on both your tastes and the recipe you are about to prepare. In any case, cut the eggplant into slices, about 1 cm wide and put them into a bowl full of cold water, with two teaspoons of vinegar. Soak them for about 30 minutes, drain and dry them well.

Soaking eggplant in water and vinegar helps remove some of the vegetable's natural bitterness.

Many recipes call for salting and rinsing eggplant before cooking it to draw out its bitterness. Brining can be used instead and has the added advantage of helping the eggplant keep its shape when it's cooked, whether your recipe calls for baking, frying, or grilling.

First of all it is essential to wash the eggplants well; pass them under cold running water. With a sharp knife, remove the eggplant base and cap. You can decide to remove the peel or to leave it. Of course this depends on both your tastes and the recipe you are about to prepare.

Cook as desired. Eggplants can be grilled, steamed, braised, stir-fried, deep-fried and roasted. For a smoky flavour, turn whole eggplants over an open flame on the barbecue or stovetop until the skin is charred, then scoop out the flesh. Choose eggplants with smooth and shiny skin that is even across the surface.

Once the slices of eggplant have taken a long, luxurious, milky bath, they are tenderized and primed for frying. Simply tap off the extra moisture, dust the eggplant slices with sea salt and flour. Then pan-fry them in a large cast iron skillet until golden brown.

But apparently there's a better trick than laying out slices of the vegetable and dousing it in salt. According to the Kitchn, you can just as easily microwave eggplant to pre-cook it and remove excess water without the added sodium and extra waiting time for it to "sweat" it out.

Brining adds flavor and texture to eggplants. "Mix spices and salt with water, then soak sliced eggplant in the brine for 30 minutes before cooking.

“The absorptiveness of eggplant can be reduced by collapsing its spongy structure before frying,” he writes. Which you can do by microwaving it before frying (!) or salting slices that'll draw out the water and close up those air pockets, giving you a firmer flesh to work with.

Control nematodes that may injure plant roots. Avoid injuring roots during field operations. Use clean/ disinfected farm tools during field operations to prevent spread of disease. Use organic manure to suppress bacterial wilt pathogen.

How long can you soak eggplant? ›

Let soak for 30-60 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat your grill to medium-high heat. Remove the eggplant from the brine and pat the slices dry with paper towels. Brush one side with olive oil, then lay each slice (oiled-side down) on the grill.

Older recipes call for salting eggplant to draw out the bitter juices, but today's eggplants are less bitter (unless very large), so salting is largely unnecessary. It will, however, help the spongy flesh absorb less oil and crisp up like a dream.

While the skin of a small young eggplant is edible, the skin becomes bitter on larger or older eggplants and should be peeled. When in doubt, the answer to, "Do you peel eggplant before cooking?" is yes, peel it. Use a vegetable peeler or paring knife to remove the skin.

Remove the seeds if you want to decrease the bitterness of your eggplant. The seeds are what hold most of the bitter flavor in an eggplant. You don't have to remove them, but if you prefer your eggplant to be less bitter, go ahead and get rid of them. Older eggplants have more seeds, and are thus more bitter.