3-types-of-cooking stir fry

I had left over vegetables so what else to do other than make a stir fry. For this I braised the tofu just like here, fried eggplant and cooked the rest of the veggies in a pan.

Ingredients:

• braised tofu
• vegetable oil
• 1 eggplant, sliced thin
• salt and pepper
• paper towels
• 1 carrot, sliced thin
• 1 cucumber, sliced thin
• 1 jalapeno, chopped
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• rice

1) Cook the tofu as directed.









2) Heat vegetable oil in a pan, with enough oil to cover the bottom and go up about 1 cm.
3) Once the oil is hot but not smoking, add the eggplant. Depending on the size of your pan you may need to do this 2 or 3 times as you do not want to crowed the pan.





4) Flip the eggplant when it is brown on one side.
5) Remove the eggplant when it is brown on both sides and place on a paper towel.
6) Remove from the paper towel and add salt and pepper





7) Heat 3 TBSP oil in a pan.
8) Add the carrot for about 3-5 minutes.
9) Add the cucumber for 2-3 minutes.
10) Add the jalapeno and red onion for 2-3 minutes.
11) Add the tomatoes for 1-5 minutes, depending on how you like them cooked.
12) Serve the tofu and vegetables on top of rice with the eggplant on top to add crunch.

Baigan Choka (Eggplant finished with hot oil)

Baigan is another word for Eggplant and Choka is a Hindi word meaning to finish a dish with hot flavored oil. The recipe was taken from here and cut in 1/3 as I only had 1 eggplant left. The other recipe says to grill everything, but I don't have that option so everything was put into a pan until it was charred slightly and heated through.

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant, charred and cooled
• 8 plum tomatoes, charred and cooled
• 1/4 onion, charred and cooled
• 3 cloves of garlic, charred and cooled
• 1 jalapeno
• 4 TBSP olive oil
• 3 cloves of garlic

Directions:

1)Trim the stems off the eggplant and chop it.
2) Mash the eggplant and the tomatoes together.








3) Add the garlic, onion and, jalapeno and mix.
4) Heat the olive oil in a pan.








5) Add the fresh garlic and let it simmer for 15 seconds.









6) Serve with naan or other bread.

Braised Eggplant

I was trying to find a new way to cook eggplant without grilling or baking (because I can't do either of those right now) AND without having to go out and buy something I don't have or don't want to eat (many recipes called for beef, pork or beef broth). So, I took a few notes that were prevalent in what I was looking at and used the sauce from braised tofu, making a few changes given that eggplant does not take to flavor as fast as tofu. Came out great!

Ingredients:

• 2 Asian/Japanese/Chinese eggplants (the long thin ones, but I suppose you can use globe/Italian), sliced into 1/2 in thick slices. It is optional to take the skin off, it will be more chewy with the skin
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 slice of ginger, chopped fine
• 4 TBSP + 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 4 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 TBSP chili paste (or hot sauce if you want to make it less Asian)
• 3 green onions (again, I count three from the base where they were attached, not the top where they are separate)

Directions:

1) Heat 2 TBSP vegetable oil in a pan.
2) Make the sauce with 1 tsp vegetable oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, chili paste and green onions.







3) Add the onion, garlic and ginger and let cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often, until the onion starts to become seethrough.







4) Add the eggplant and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often so the eggplant cooks on all sides.
5) At some point with the eggplant (depending on how wet or dry yours is), you will need to add the rest (2 TBSP) of the vegetable oil, as the onion and eggplant will have sucked it all up, which will lead to burning if you do not add more.



6) Once the eggplant is brown on both sides, add the sauce.
7) Cook until the sauce is reduced.
8) Serve with rice.

Tomato, Zucchini, and Eggplant Tian

 As other posts will tell you, we get a box of fruit and vegetables once a week from Boston Organics. This box contained eggplant, thus this recipe was followed and altered a bit.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds round tomatoes, about 4, sliced thin
• 1 red onion, sliced thin
• 1/2 pounds zucchini, about 2, sliced thin
• 1 eggplant, sliced thin
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp dill
• 1/2 oregano

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
2) Arrange the vegetables in rows in the baking dish in the order of: tomato, eggplant, tomato, zucchini, onion, repeat. If there is extra place it in the middle or around the edges.
3) Season with salt and pepper






4) Mix the herbs and additional salt and pepper into the olive oil.
5) Poor the olive oil over the vegetables in the dish.







6) Place tinfoil over the vegetables and bake for 1 hour.








7) Remove the tinfoil and bake for another 1/2 hour.

Aubergine Dip with Flatbreads

From: Veggie Feasts

Ingredients:

• 1 large aubergine
• 4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin (I used cumin seeds)
• 150 ml (5 fl oz) Greek-style yoghurt
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 2 TBSP coriander
• 1 TBSP lemon juice (I used lime)
• 4 flour tortillas
• salt and black pepper

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 200 C and with the heat only coming from the top.
2) Cut the aubergine lengthways into 5 mm (1/4 inch) thick slices.







3) Mix 3 TBSP of the oil, cumin, salt and pepper.







4) Brush over the aubergine slices (don't dip, the aubergine will just suck up all the oil).
5) Cook in a preheated ridged griddle pan or under a preheated hot grill for 3-4 minutes.







6) Flip.
7) Cook for 3-4 min again.
8) Cool.








9) Chop finely.








10) Mix the aubergine with the yoghurt, garlic, coriander, lemon/lime juice, 1 TBSP oil, salt and pepper.











11) Cook the tortillas in a preheated griddle pan or under the preheated hot grill for 3 minutes. I like to add paprika.
12) Flip.
13) Remove after another 3-4 min.
13) Cook for 3 minutes again.

Aubergine (Eggplant) Goats' Cheese Gratin

From: Veggie Feasts

Ingredients:

• Spray oil
• 2 x 400 g (13 oz) cans chopped tomatoes
• 2 large garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2 TBSP chopped basil
• 2 aubergines (eggplants)
• 250 g (8 oz) soft goats' cheese, sliced or crumbled
• 50 g (2 oz) Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• Salt and black pepper

Directions:

1) Lightly oil a 1.5 litre (2 1/2 pint) baking dish with spray oil.








2) Put the tomatoes, garlic, half the oil, sugar, basil and salt and pepper in a saucepan and bring to a boil.
3) Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes until reduced and thickened.
4) Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas Mark 6





5) Cut each aubergine lengthways into 6 thin slices.
6) Season the remaining oil with salt and pepper.








7) Brush the aubergine slices with the seasoned oil (I used my hand).







8) Cook under a preheated hot grill for 3-4 minutes. (I did this while the oven was sill pre-heating)








9) Remove and flip and cook for another 3-4 minutes.









10) Arrange one-third of the aubergine slices, overlapping them slightly, in the base of the prepared dish.








11) Add one-third of the tomato sauce.








12) Add one-third of the goats' cheese and Parmesan cheese.
13) Repeat these layers, finishing with the 2 cheeses.
14) Bake for 30 minutes.