Szechuan Eggplant Recipe, Sichuan Eggplant Step by Step - Edible Garden (2024)

FAQs

Do you eat the skin of Chinese eggplant? ›

Yes, the skin of Chinese eggplant is tender and entirely edible. Unlike the thicker skin of some Western eggplants, Chinese eggplant's skin cooks down to a soft texture, so there's no need to peel it. It also adds color and additional nutrients to the dish.

How do you pick the best Chinese eggplant? Picking Chinese eggplant is the art of picking any eggplant. Look for ones that are firm and have shiny skin, and avoid any blemishes or soft spots. This means that they'll be young, tender and full of flavor.

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.

Aside from its green top, the entire eggplant is edible: its purple skin, its white flesh, and the tiny seeds inside. Eggplant contains protein, fiber, and a wide range of vitamins and minerals as well as some antioxidants. Eggplant should be cooked before eating.

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.

I tend to soak the slices in a bowl of water with a couple of tablespoon of salt for about 30-45 minutes. It doesn't have to do with bitterness, but I find that in doing this, the fried eggplant turns out less greasy," Jenkins says.

It helps draw out moisture from the eggplant. You don't have to salt eggplant though, it depends on the texture your looking for. Salting gives it a more creamy texture when cooked and not salting helps the eggplant hold up and be a little firmer after cooked.

One of the most popular was the long, thin, purple eggplant from Taiwan known as Ping Tung. This is an exceptional eggplant with sweet, pleasant tasting flesh. The plants are incredibly prolific and produce throughout the entire season. They are more disease resistant than other eggplants.

As in selecting any eggplant, look for those that have shiny skin without soft spots or blemishes. They should be firm to the touch. If the skin is dull, that means the Chinese eggplant is too ripe and should be avoided. When cut open, the skin should be white rather than yellow.

Many recipes call for salting and rinsing eggplant before cooking it to draw out its bitterness.

Why are my homegrown eggplants bitter? ›

Eggplants can have the alkaloid solanine, which can give it a bitter taste. “Another compound possibly contributing to eggplant's bitterness is anthocyanin, which is a phytochemical that gives eggplant its pretty purple hue and can act like an antioxidant when we consume it,” says Nichole Dandrea-Russert, MS, RDN.

Can You Eat Eggplant Raw? Luckily, the answer is yes! While the leaves and flowers can be toxic, the eggplant itself is safe to consume both raw and cooked, and the compound that some might be sensitive to, solanine, is only toxic when consumed in large quantities.

The skin is entirely edible, though with larger eggplants it can be a little tough. If your eggplant is young, tender, and on the small side, the nutrient-rich skin can probably be left on for skillet frying or braising. Otherwise, peel the skin and then slice or cube the flesh.

More slender than the common globe variety, Japanese eggplant has purple skin that can be light or dark, which can be left on for cooking. Like all other eggplant, Japanese eggplant is never eaten raw. But unlike larger, seedier eggplant, Japanese eggplant generally doesn't need salting.

Findings of animal studies suggest that nasunin, an anthocyanin in eggplant skin, may help protect brain cell membranes from damage caused by free radicals. Nasunin also helps transport nutrients into cells and move waste out. Anthocyanins also help prevent neuroinflammation and facilitate blood flow to the brain.

If it's an extra-large eggplant, the vegetable could be older and the skin tougher, therefore, it's a smart idea to peel it. But small, young eggplant have thin, tender skins that add great texture to the vegetable when cooked.