HowieCOOK: Purple Provocateur

It's a fruit! It's a veggie! Shut up, it's a fruit. Technically, it's a berry. It's first cousins with the tomato and second cousins with the potato. It gets its name for its shape and it's (originally cultivated) glossy white skin. Hailing from the Indian subcontinent and weighing in at "heavy for its size," it's the Purple Provocateur...Heeeeerr'e's E G G P L A N T !! This inquiry comes from my friend, Carrie. She writes:

I'm obsessed with Eggplant and have yet to find a reliable, non-time-consuming trick to cooking eggplant (preferrably stir fried or braised) that will 1) retain the gorgeous bright purple color, 2) will prevent it from absorbing all the oil from the pan and 3) can be done in a home kitchen with an electric stovetop. Please help!

Not to harp on the theme of hatred (steak, mushrooms, corn, cucumbers, blech), but I, like many of you out there, hated eggplant as a kid. However, when I moved to China (not to harp on the theme of China), eggplant and I began a very special relationship. I fell in love. It may have been the dream-like haze (read: smog) of China, the different, sweeter genre of eggplant grown, or just the sheer variety of dishes, I was newly in love with eggplant, nonetheless.

There, I found dozens of masterful methods to prep an eggplant. Fried, grilled, steamed, baked, stuffed, roasted, sauteed, breaded, pureed, stewed, braised; I could go on. It is simply provocative what a typical Chinese chef can do to such a humble piece of purple produce. My childhood aversion had no choice but to melt away when faced with such gastronomic pleasure. Today, I'll eat eggplant in any form, just had to get to know her better.

Now then, In answer to Carrie's concerns:

Keeping eggplant purple...The purple color of eggplant comes from anthocyanins and chlorogenic acids, also present in green veggies along with chlorophyll. Just as you would blanch broccoli in water to cease enzymatic action on the outside and draw chlorogenic-activating gases from the inside, the same works for the royal hue of an eggplant. Yet, eggplant skin reacts to the oxygen in water differently than a more porous veggie. It goes dull and rather gray in hot water.

Oil blanching eggplant works like a charm. Dipping cut eggplant into hot (say, 300 degree F) light oil for about 30-45 seconds seizes the skin and draws magical gases from within the flesh that support vine ripe color. Bright. Purple. Gorgeous.

Preventing it from absorbing oil...You've now read the info above and are very concerned about eggplant soaking up all of that oil from blanching to improve color, right? Eggplant can absorb oil, but it doesn't have to take in alot. Make sure you have a fresh eggplant with few-to-no seeds. This will reduce your desire to listen to outdated cookbooks and celebrity chefs and salt your eggplant! This controversial tactic has been bantered about for eons as a way to get bitter water out of the eggplant. In my not-so-humble opinion, it does more harm than good.

If you are using a fresh, firm eggplant with few-to-no seeds, you don't have to get anything out. Let's do the math, here. If you leave water inside eggplant, then cooking processes heat up the internal water and effectively steams the flesh from the inside. This same water also prevents some oil absorption. Alternatively, if you take out the water by salting, then you leave your eggplant vulnerable like a sponge, waiting for oil to be around. Soggy. Eww.

As a bonus, here are a few pearls of HowieCOOK wisdom about the Purple Provocateur:

On good-for-you: Eggplant, despite numerous sourpuss nutritionists' initial thoughts, it cuts cholesterol, is rich in antioxidants, fiber, vitamins and minerals, has skin that contains a phytonutrient that makes it an official brain food, and aids in digestive processes, i.e. it will keep you regular. Yes, I said it.

On breeds: It comes in many shapes and sizes. Though there are the ultra-cool graffiti kind with striped skin, the flavorful Indian kind that are small and dark, the Japanese white kind that look shocking, the most popular in our grasp are typical Italian globe eggplant and Chinese eggplant. If you don't like thick skin and high-bitterness-potential, go for the Chinese, longer, thinner, lighter purple kind.

On bitterness: it is not characteristic of all people, so why should it be one of all eggplant? Sure, there are bitter eggplants out there, but you can avoid them pretty easily. This is very important, since bitterness is the #1 reason haters hate eggplant. Seed volume causes this bitterness, and seeds over-develop in over-ripe or overly large eggplant. The fresher the eggplant, the fewer the seeds the sweeter the flesh.

On buying: Eggplant should feel heavy for its size, and have glossy, uniformly smooth skin with no blemishes. When you buy an eggplant from a big grocery store, chances are the eggplant has been sitting in cold storage for weeks. So, even though an eggplant seems to be fresh, smooth and heavy, it may still be over-ripe and bitter given the info in #3. Buy from farmers markets. Eat green. Be a locavore. Wear Birkenstocks. Blah, blah, blah.

On Jersey: New Jersey gets a lot of crap from just about everyone. I grew up in NJ and find it to be a great state. Terrific beaches, decent surf, and NJ provides Hollywood with one of the most salient stereotypes for Mafia casting. I digress. NJ is the third largest producer of eggplant in the US. 8000 tons/year. Respect.

Since I know you're just drooling to know, here are my top 5 favorite eggplant dishes:

Yu Xiang Qie Bing - Chinese - Deep-fried, meat-stuffed eggplant cakes with a garlicky sauce

Baba Ganoush - arguably Lebanese - Roasted eggplant mashed with garlic, lemon juice, sesame paste, olive oil

Eggplant Parmesan - Italian - My little grandmother and her sister used to fight over leaving the skin on. I take it off!

Zha Qie Tiao - Chinese - Like eggplant french fries.

Baingan Bartha - Indian - Roasted eggplant mashed with tomato, onion, peas, chiles, garam masala, cilantro

Phew. So, you are all now lovers of eggplant and can't wait to read my brilliant recipe below. Wait. There is no recipe below! What ever will you do? Here's the deal: If you've read the article this far, you must truly be interested. I always have a hard time deciding which recipe I like best. YOU decide for me, and I will provide the winning recipe! Look to the survey in the upper-right-hand panel of this page. Let the games begin...