If there is a vegetable that I just adore it would be aubergine. Especially if it's pan fried and skin on. My story with aubergines is a love from first bite and started so long ago I can barely remember. It's like they've always been a favourite.
Besides, you know it's the middle of the summer when the aubergines in the garden are ripe enough to fill the craving for light vegetable dinners.
Most of the time I would have them just panfried and drained on a paper to absorb some of the excessive oil, as a veggie toast on a slice of bread topped with fresh tomatoes and/or garlicky sauce or just feta cheese.
I would also have them baked - halved and stuffed with meat or veggie filling. You can have them in a soup too.
For my big disappointment they are not very popular in England it seems. I was even asked in a shop how do I cook them, by a lady puzzled by the amount of aubergines I was buying (4-5) (!).
Actually I was very pleased to tell her in detail how to bring the best out of them so she even took one to try :)
The trickiest thing with aubergines is the bitter skin. But don't peel the skin off, because it's the most delicious thing! To discard the bitterness just soak the sliced aubergines 5-6-7 mm thick in salted water (1 tbsp salt). Soak for about an hour or an hour and a half, then rinse and pat dry.
After this manipulation, the aubergines are ready for culinary use.
I was very pleased to find a recipe about Japanese aubergines with miso (Japanese soybean paste) in the Delicious magazine's latest issue, which gave me another great idea how to enjoy this vegetable.
Being a fan of the Korean cuisine, I already had Korean soybean paste and Korean mixed bean paste (a bit spicy). So to figure out the recipe to the end was easy!
Hey and the good thing is, it's suitable for vegetarians and vegans.
Here they are the MediterrAsian Aubergines:
2 medium sized Mediterranean aubergines - halved and cut in slices ca. 6 mm thick lengthwise
1 tbsp Korean mixed bean paste
2 tsp Korean soybean paste Doenjang
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp rice vinegar
olive oil to pan fry
Tofu (hard), sesame oil
to garnish:
1-2 gren onions
cherry tomatoes
Method:
Prepare the aubergines by soaking them into a deep bowl with cold salted water (1 tbsp salt). Leave for 1 hour, then rinse, drain and pat them dry.
Heat the oil and fry on each side until golden.
Drain the oil and place on a baking tray.
In a bowl mix the soybean paste, the mixed bean paste, the mirin and the rice vinegar. Brush with the paste on top of the aubergines and bake on 180 C for 10 minutes.
Cut the tofu on cubes pat dry and fry in olive oil and a little bit of sesame oil.
Serve and enjoy!
The aubergines on their way to the oven:
5 comments:
Lucky we have Korean shop here.I so want to try thsi as I love aubergine and there are so many ways to prepare it;)
OMG, Snejana, this looks absolutely delicious! Yum! You know I'm vegetarian so this is the perfect meal for me!
The funny thing is that I can't taste the bitterness of the skin. I don't peel the aubergine and I don't soak it in salted water - it always tastes great.
This recipe is definitely high on my to do list!
@Zita, thank you! I am so happy you liked them.
I think the bitterness depends of the variety, because I have tried some which are not that bitter but all of them improve after soaking (in my opinion)! :)
I love aubergines ! especially vegetable stew and also cooked on the grill .. Nice combination you have here ..
Thank you Antonina!
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