Eggplants have a beneficial effect on the work of the heart, normalize weight, and are useful for atherosclerosis and gastrointestinal diseases. Therefore, the fruits are actively used in cooking. They are boiled, fried, stewed and baked in the oven.
Preparing eggplant for baking
When choosing an eggplant, give preference to not very large and evenly colored vegetables with green tails. If the fruits are young and fresh, there is no need to peel and core during cooking. If the eggplants are overripe, then these actions must be performed in order to protect yourself from corned beef, which is harmful to health.
So that the finished eggplant does not taste bitter, it turns out tasty and juicy, it is necessary to prepare them correctly. To do this, cut the vegetables into halves, sprinkle with salt and leave for half an hour. After the time has passed, rinse them in cool water. Along with the released juice, all the bitterness will go away.
If you are cooking vegetables with a filling, then it must be brought separately until half cooked, only after that stuff the eggplants and bake everything together in the oven.
Eggplant in sour cream
This is a quick and easy recipe for a delicious eggplant snack. To prepare it you will need:
- 3 young medium sized eggplants, - 300 grams of sour cream (25%), - 50 grams of walnuts, - 3 tbsp. tablespoons of flour
- vegetable oil, - greens.
Wash the vegetables, cut into circles no more than 1 cm thick, without peeling. Place in a saucepan and cover with boiling water from a kettle so that the water completely hides them. Leave for 5 minutes, then drain the water and squeeze the eggplant slightly.
Pour flour into a plate, roll the chopped fruits in it, and then fry them in a pan with the addition of vegetable oil.
Transfer the eggplants to a baking dish, top with sour cream and bake in the oven for about half an hour. At this time, fry the nuts in a dry frying pan, chop the herbs. Sprinkle the prepared ingredients over the vegetables just before cooking.
Eggplants can be served both as an independent dish and together with stewed vegetables, meat, mashed potatoes.
Stuffed eggplant
To prepare this delicious and original dish, you need the following ingredients:
- 4 small eggplants, - 250 grams of minced chicken, - 1 zucchini, - 100 grams of almonds, - half a lemon, - 3 tbsp. a spoonful of mayonnaise, - 1 onion, - 2 cloves of garlic, - vegetable oil for frying, - 1 ginger root, - greens.
Wash eggplants with baking soda, cut into halves. Remove the pulp from the middle, cut it into pieces. Chop the onion and garlic.
Cut the young zucchini into medium-sized cubes and fry in a pan with the addition of vegetable oil. Add eggplant pulp, garlic and onion, salt and simmer the resulting mixture over low heat for about 5 minutes.
Grind the almonds into small crumbs. Squeeze the juice out of the lemon, grate the zest and ginger. Add all ingredients (including fried zucchini with eggplant pulp) to the minced chicken, salt, season with mayonnaise and stir.
Stuff the eggplants with the resulting meat filling, put them on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 40 minutes until tender. Sprinkle finely chopped herbs on top at the end of cooking.
