If you look for recipes for Eggplant, you will most likely see the following names of recipes:
Eggplant Parmigiana, Ratatouille, Calorie Counter’s Mousaaka, Eggplant Italiano, Deep Fried Eggplant, Eggplant Lasagna
My personal favorite is deep fried eggplant.
Since I grow eggplant in my garden, I wait patiently until the end of August and pick it fresh off the plant.
Eggplant is best when the skin is shiny. If you wait until the skin turns a dull color before you pick it, your eggplant will not taste very good. First of all, when it is shiny, there aren’t very many seeds in it yet. Once you’ve crossed the line and your eggplant is no longer shiny, you end up with eggplant that is full of seeds. You can eat the seeds, but, your overall eggplant experience will be dismal, at best.
When I cook eggplant, I peel it. You can eat the peels, but, at my house, we eat it peel free. My husband is actually the person who prefers the skins peeled off. I personally do not mind eating the outside. You can do it your way.
Once you peel it, you’ll need to slice it. We have found that the best thickness is about pencil thick. This again, is a personal decision. Very important: once you slice the eggplant, you’ll need to put it in a bowl of salt water. It will darken from the air, but, it doesn’t affect the flavor.
We coat ours before we fry it with a sequence coating. Flour mix, egg, then cracker crumbs.
The flour mix is a mixture of flour and different spices. I like to use poultry seasoning, Lawry’s seasoned salt, corn meal and garlic salt in my flour. I keep a canister of pre-mixed flour in my cupboard to grab whenever I get the urge to deep fry.
The egg needs to be beaten, mixing the yolks evenly with the whites. I use a fork and swirl them around in a circle.
I use a food processor at high speed with my chopping blade to cut my crackers into cracker dust. If you do not have a food processor and have no intention of buying one in the near future, you can substitute Shorelunch Coating mix for the cracker crumbs. This is good, too!
Start your deep fryer. 375 is a good temperature for eggplant. You do ‘not’ want to use a cooler oil temperature, since the eggplant will absorb lower temperature oil. You want to deep fry it and pull it out when the egg has turned a dark, golden color. You will need to have a pan with a paper towel waiting to place them in once they are browned.
Take three bowls that you can get your hand and your piece of eggplant in and out of comfortably. Fill one of each: flour, egg, cracker crumbs.
Remove your eggplant from the bowl of water and dip it into the flour, coating evenly. Then, dip it into the egg mixture. Now. Coat with the cracker crumbs.
Place on a plate, and pick up the next piece. Coat. Repeat.
Is your deep fryer ready? You can put them into the deep fryer one at a time. Do not crowd the top of your oil. The eggplant will float. Keep flipping them. Eggplant will not flip themselves over. ‘You’ will need to turn them.
When they are done browning, put them into the paper towel lined pan.
You will hear the eggplant when you pick them up. They will sound hollow.
My husband eats his with ketchup. I like to dip mine in Buffalo Wing sauce. I have also dipped mine in ranch dressing and have tried lemon juice with Tabasco sauce.
They are good cold, also. Sometimes I will take two slices of eggplant and put a piece of American cheese in between them.
