The One Where You Deliberately Burn The Food. Eggplant and Peas Char.

   This year has been a record year for eggplant at out house. This Spring we put in 4 different varieties and all of them have been putting on quite the show since Summer kicked into gear. Japanese Eggplant, Classic Globes, Thai, and Indian finger eggplants; the garden is bursting. Fortunately, The Indian kitchen is filled with delicious methods of preparing them. One of the most interesting is Char.
  
   There are number of ways of cooking Indian vegetables. "Wet" vegetables, "dry" vegetables, "fried" vegetables, "stuffed" vegetables, but probably the most interesting is the "char" method;  the traditional name is Charcharis. This means deliberately letting your vegetables get a delicate burn, or char. This method of cooking comes from the region of Bengal and involves fairly minimal care since after all you're "burning" the stuff. The trick is not to go too far and set off the smoke alarms, or ruin your pots and pans. Actually had my mom ever been interested in Indian cooking she probably could have mastered this technique with one hand tied behind her back, since char was her go-to food preparation method.
  
  The idea behind char cooking is to let the vegetables simmer gently in their sauce undisturbed, and then let them form a crusty skin on the bottom of the pan, that is then scraped up and mixed with the dish before serving, adding a smoky, open fire flavor to the vegetable and the sauce.
 This is a great dish to cook when you're busy with other things on the stove as it requires minimum overseeing. Of course you can't neglect it too much unless you'd like to meet the fire person of your dreams.

   I started this dish in a clay pot then transferred everything to a Kadhai as I didn't want to risk having a problem with one of my favorite pots since things can really heat up at the end. My recommendation is use a skillet or kadahi to start. So here is a very simple dish, made with a good sized eggplant, a bag of frozen peas, and some simple spices. Now lets get all McGiver on that eggplant.

Eggplant and Peas Char

Here's What You Need:

1 good sized eggplant
2 cups of fresh peas (if you've got them) or One 10z bag of frozen peas defrosted
4 Tbs ghee or butter
1 tsp turmeric
1 and 1/4 tsp salt
1 Tbs crushed coriander seeds
1 and 1/2 tsp for crushed cumin seeds
1 to 3  whole serrano chilies (depending how hot you want to go)
4 stems of fresh cilantro
2 cups of water


Here's What To Do:

Wash your eggplant  and cut it into 1 inch cubes.

Place the eggplant cubes in a heavy skillet or kadhai.

If you have fresh peas put them in now. If you are using frozen ones just leave them out for now and let them defrost.
Crush your cumin and coriander seeds in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle.

 Cut the 4Tbs of unsalted butter or ghee into small pieces and scatter them across the vegetables.

Add all the other ingredients EXCEPT the cilantro and the frozen peas.

I actually started with one large  whole serrano and then added in another a few minutes later.

Then add the 2 cups of water.

Bring all of these ingredients to a boil on a medium heat and let them boil for about 4 minutes.
Turn the heat down to low after that, partially cover the pan with a lid, and let all of this stuff cook for about 30 minutes.
  
Shake the pan every once in a while to stir things up, and don't forget to check and make sure your water is not all dried up. You want to burn this stuff a bit, but not just yet! If you find the water is gone, add a bit more and you may need to turn the temp down a click.
When nearly all the water has been absorbed, add in the frozen peas.

Keep the heat on low (this is where I switched pans) and let stuff fry until you get a crust of the bottom of the vegetables and they start to burn on the bottom. Turn the heat off under the pan and  let things sit for a couple of minutes then take a spatula and take the burned crust and scrape it into the vegetables.

Toss in your cilantro and serve it up!

   The spices simmered in a sauce with the vegetables make for great flavor and the charred crust mixed into the whole thing at the end gives it a cookout flavor. This is a great dish for any Indian or American meal and perfect for a BBQ as a side dish.
  
Coming up next..some Labor Day End of Summer Party Treats and a special offer from The Chaunk for our newsletter subscribers...or sign up and get in on this. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

19 Eggplants And Counting... Japanese Eggplant in Red Miso.

    
   When we planted eggplant this spring, we planted a wide variety. We planted the small Indian globe eggplant, the large Italian eggplant, and of course Japanese eggplant. I had no idea we'd have such a proliferation!!!! We are drowning in eggplant and I love it. Maybe because I grew up in an Italian household I have eaten eggplant in it's various permutations since day one. Then 25 years ago when I started cooking Indian food, I was introduced to the large variety of eggplants that were available. So, of course when we planted this Spring, we had a little bit of everything, only a little bit wasn't so little after all.

   Usually when cooking eggplant, I've either cooked them in some Italian recipe or cooked them Indian style. I've roasted, stuffed, and pickled but never have I cooked them Japanese style. I figured it was about time.... So...I gathered up my Japanese Eggplants...

Japanese Eggplant With Red Miso aka Nasu Dengaku

Here's What You Need:
2 large Japanese Eggplants
2 Tbs vegetable oil
3 Tbs red miso
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs Sake
2 Tbs Mirin
2 Tbs water

Here's What To Do: 
Preheat the oven to 392 degrees.
Pick your Japanese eggplant (if you're growing your own) Excuse opportunity to show off the eggplants.

Wash and dry therm and cut them into rounds.

 Then quarters.

Place the cut up eggplant in a colander sitting over a bowl, and sprinkle it with 3 Tbs of kosher salt.

Rub the salt around on the eggplant pieces and then let everything sit for 10 minutes.
Rinse the salt off of the eggplants.

The water in the bottom of the bowl? That's the bitter liquid leached out by the salt.
Dry the eggplant, rub it with 1 Tbs of vegetable oil, and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Spread the pieces out so they're not sitting on top of each other.

Place the baking sheet of eggplant pieces in the oven.

Roast them for 20 minutes. You are looking for the eggplant to be slightly browned.
Meanwhile make the sauce.

Whisk together the sugar...

...Red Miso...

...Sake...

 ...Mirin, and water. Stir everything together until it is well mixed.

After about 20 minutes take the tray of eggplant out of the oven and drizzle the sauce over the eggplant pieces.

 Stir everything around until each piece is coated with sauce.

Then slide the tray of eggplant back into the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the sauce caramelizes.
Take it out of the oven and serve it up!

   Sweet and salty, this oven roasted eggplant is a great go to for when you don't feel like getting out the grill. It goes great with any vegetarian meal, or as a side dish with meat or fish. Coming up next, all vegetables all the time, as a big part of our harvest comes in. Of course we're not neglecting dessert either and this is a great time of year for perfecting your "specialitie" for the up coming holidays. I got that. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Smokey, Sweet, Perfect With Pita. Eggplant Bharta

   There's a big holiday coming up here in the US of A, and that's Independence Day, aka, the 4th of July. Now the Canadians just had Canada Day last week, the French will be celebrating Bastille Day on the 14th, but this week is our turn and the traditional way in which people in the US  celebrate is they start firing up the grill. Among the burgers, dogs, ribs, corn, etc that find their way to the flames this time of year, around our house I'd have to add one thing more. Eggplant.
   
   If you've never roasted an eggplant you've really been missing something. Smokey, melty and delicious, nothing quite beats preparing an eggplant this way. Another good thing, no open flames are necessary. If you can't get a fire, an oven works too. Of course, you won't get all the extra smokey flavor with an oven but it definitely works. Over the years, I've roasted eggplants to be used in many recipes and one of the most popular is this eggplant bharta, smokey and sweet with a bit of local honey. I served it a couple of weeks ago at a vegetarian tasting dinner I had for some friends and it was quickly gobbled up or rather scooped up with grilled pita bread wedges.  Which is why I 'm sharing this recipe now. 

   This is a perfect dish for all July 4th cookouts, plus those white eggplants. When I saw them at the Sonoma Organic Farmers Market, I knew they were going to wind up on my table and no, white eggplants taste no different from purple eggplants,
   
 

Eggplant Bharta

Here's What You Need:

 3 eggplants (about 3 cups)
1 and 1/2 cup of onions finely chopped
6 Tbs peanut powder
1 and 1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp tamarind concentrate mixed with 3 Tbs water
6 tsp honey (or molasses for a vegan dish)
3/4 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp kashmiri chili or 1/4 tsp pprika mixed with 1/4 tsp cayenne
3 Tbs of vegetable oil
3/4 tsp brown mustard seeds
Fresh cilantro

Here's What To Do:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees (if you're using an oven) otherwise fire up the grill.
Poke the eggplants all over with a fork so they don't explode while cooking. Rub them with a bit of vegetable oil.
Place the eggplants directly on a grill or over the flame of your stove, like this.

(You can also roast them on a cookie sheet on the top rack of a 450 degree oven.)

Roast them until the skin is charred on the outside. Rotate them as you cook.
Once they're cooked, let them cool and peel them.

Place the peeled eggplant in a bowl and mash them.

Chop the onions finely.

 Mix them into the eggplant along with the peanut powder and salt. Set it aside.

In a small bowl mix together the honey or molasses, garam masala and chili.
Heat the vegetable oil in a small skillet. When it's hot, add in the mustard seeds.
When the mustard seeds start to pop, pour the mustard seeds and oil into the tamarind, honey chili mixture.

Pour the honey, tamarind and mustard seed mixture into the eggplant.

Mix it together well.
Scatter finely chopped cilantro across the top of the dish and serve it up.

   I served this with wedges of grilled pita bread and assorted crackers for dipping, spreading and general mopping up purposes. It's also great just on a plate with a lot of other dishes, but the thing I really love about this is its' appetizer/keep a crowd happy til the food comes potential. Crunchy, sweet, spicy, and smokey this eggplant's got it all.

   Coming up next, using record breaking heat to make pickles, with carrots. Yeah you heard me right. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Fire Your Eggplant! Eggplant in Coconut, Spices and Buttermilk

    I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am simply nuts for Fall. Mmmm, Fall, nuts, yes. Must buy nuts.  Aside from my obsession with cherries which is the one bright spot in Summer for me, I like the colder months. I don't do well in direct sunlight, and yes it's because I have the coloring of that white asparagus that comes in cans, and I handle heat about as well as one of those 1970 Jaguars where one couldn't run the air conditioning and the radio at the same time without breaking down in the middle of the street.

   Winter is fabulous, and has all the stuff I love, cold, rain, and fog. But, it also has all those pesky stress inducing holidays. At our house that includes all the usual suspects plus Alans' birthday and our wedding anniversary (don't know what I was thinking when I planned a December wedding.)  Spring has rain, rain, rain, mud and flowers coming up, wonderful tender young vegetables but that dang summer is right behind and I just can't forget.

    I am an autumn. 
  
   Remember those late night TV info-mercials about finding your color? Are you a Spring, a Winter, a Summer or a Fall? Usually it was hosted by some lady who was buried in a mountain of neck scarves and a couple of coats of spackle passing for blush.

   She'd hold paint chips up against your face ask you about your relationship with your mother and  declare, "You're a Spring!" then sell you a butt-load of make-up Not Found In Stores!!!  This always invlolved about six easy payments of $39.99 plus shipping and handling to an address in Parsippany New Jersey. Bottom line: You probably could find out the same information cheaper hanging around the paint department at Home Depot.
   
   But seasonal beauty hints aside, we are now smack dab in the middle of Autumn for real, and all that that implies. Around here, one of the main things is eggplant, fire roasted eggplant. I've cooked eggplant in a variety of ways in all the years I've been cooking Indian food, and flame roasting it is one of my favorite ways to go. Prepared this way, eggplant can be an appetizer, a side dish, and even a flatbread or pizza topping. Also, it makes up quickly which is always a plus in these pre holiday, sports watching, days.

Flame Roasted Eggplant With Spices, Coconut, and Buttermilk

Here's What You Need:

1 large eggplant
5 dried red chilies
1 tsp of black mustard seeds
1/2 cup of grated fresh or frozen coconut or dried unsweetened coconut
4 whole shallots
1 and 1/2 tsp of salt
1 cup of buttermilk
2 tsp of vegetable oil (I use coconut oil)

Here's What To Do:

Rub the eggplants with a bit of vegetable oil.
Place the eggplant directly on a grill or over the flame of your stove.
(You can also roast them on a cookie sheet on the top rack of a 450 degree oven)
Roast them until the skin is charred on the outside. Rotate them as you cook.

Let them cool and then peel away the charred skin.

Mash the eggplant, put it in a bowl, and set it aside.

Put 3 of the dried chilies, 1/2 tsp of mustard seed, coconut, shallots, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1/2 cup of water in a blender, grinder or food processor.
Grind it all to a fine paste.
Pour the buttermilk into the eggplant and stir it in.

Add in 1 tsp of salt.
Add in the ground spice coconut paste.

Set it aside.
In a small pan or skillet, heat 2 Tsp of vegetable oil.
When the oil is hot toss in 1/2 tsp of mustard seeds.
When the seeds start to pop, tear up the last 2 red chilies and drop them into the pan.
Saute everything for about 30 seconds.
Pour the hot oil, and spices into the eggplant buttermilk mixture then cover the pan so that the heat and spices permeate the eggplant.

Let it rest for a bit, then take the lid off and serve it up.

   This is an excellent cold salad to serve as a side dish, a killer dip with pita chips or flat bread and a relish that would be great on a lamb or chicken sandwich. This is one of those basic recipes that can be used for a variety of purposes. It's the Swiss Army Knife of my kitchen and it can dig you out of all sort of dinner crunches.
 
   Coming up next, rooting for root vegetables more fall specials and fun with turnips. Yes, turnips. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori

Eggplant Thoran. All Of The Chew, None Of The Moo.

    One thing I've found after cooking Indian food for 23 years is that there are people who love vegetables, people who like vegetables and people who think they don't like vegetables. The last is a tricky category. Often the people who think they don't like vegetables don't because the vegetables they've been exposed to are just not that likable. Most of the time this isn't the vegetables, but the way they've been prepared.

  I've known people (ahem, mostly men) who simply will not allow a vegetable on their plate, or at least any vegetable that isn't a potato or corn. I once had a dinner party in LA and was warned by one of the guests that another guest, his friend, had these sorts of dining habits. So, there I was trying to fix a balanced meal with no greens, no salads, no yellow vegetables. It was like painting a picture and only being allowed to use white paint. Never again.

 There are a lot of people who simply freak out if there's not a piece of meat or fish on their plate. According to them, it's not really a meal if it's just plants. It just doesn't feel right. Maybe this is related to  that high faluntin' term that food writers use, "mouth feel" or maybe just that they feel they're getting ripped off with out the "good stuff" on their plate, but there it is.

   There used to be an amazing Chinese Buddhist vegetarian restaurant in Los Angeles in the 1990's located in  Brentwood, just a couple of clicks away from my house in Santa Monica. They seemed to specialize in tough customers, people who thought they couldn't get through any meal without meat. Boy, did they succeed. They cooked a style of food that was traditionally cooked for the Chinese Emperors during religious fasting periods when no meat was consumed. If you're a cook in ancient China, you don't want to piss off the Emperor, especially if he's in a cranky "where's the beef?" mood. These guys had to be good, and they were! The interesting thing about the dishes they served at this place (the name escapes me but perhaps some LA person out there can remember) was not only they way they tasted, but the way they felt while eating them. Not to get all technical but to the untrained tooth it felt like one was actually chewing meat or fish.

   Which brings me to this particular Indian eggplant dish. It has the same thing going for it. The eggplant is soft but not slippery, and has a chewy texture similar to meat. It seemed a perfect dish to fix for a Meatless Monday meal. Also, since big organic eggplants were $1.99 at the market, why the heck not?

Eggplant Thoran

Here's What You Need:

1 eggplant cut into small cubes
2 dried red chilies
1/2 cup of grated coconut (fresh if you can get it)
6 large chopped shallots
1 Tbs of urad dal
1 tsp of mustard seeds
5 curry leaves, or 1 large bay leaf
2 seeded chopped serrano chilies
2 Tbs of coconut or vegetable oil
1/4 tsp of cumin seeds
2 tsps salt

Here's What To Do:

Cut the eggplant into cubes then rinse the cubes in water and dry them on a paper towel. You will need 2 and 1/2 cups of eggplant pieces.
Put the coconut, turmeric, chilies, cumin seeds,and shallots in a food processor or grinder.
Add in 3 Tbs of water and pule a couple of times.  The mixture should be coarsely  ground.

Heat the oil in a skillet or kadhai and when it's hot add in the mustard seeds.
When the mustard seeds start to pop, toss in the dried red chilies, urad dal, and curry leaves.

When the urad dal starts to darken a bit, add in the ground coconut mixture and 2 tsp of salt.
Turn the heat to medium so the coconut doesn't burn.
Saute it lightly until all the water in absorbed.
Add in the eggplant pieces.

Mix everything together well so the eggplant is coated with the coconut spice mixture, and pop a lid on the pan.
Cook this on a low medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir it half way through cooking to make sure it's not sticking.
Take the lid off the pan and cook for another 5 minutes until all the liquid has evaporated.
Check it for seasoning and serve it up.

   Serve it along with rice and a chapatti for a simple meal. This dish can also go along with a lot of other things either Western or Indian if you want to get fancy with it. It's fast cooking and the eggplant has a soft chewy texture with crunchy bits of dal scattered through the dish. I am a total sucker for eggplant so this is right up my alley, plus it takes about 30 minutes or less from  raw eggplant to table. Gotta love that.

   Coming up next a fish dish with mango, tasty treats from my friend Bibi in Nepal, and that dang dehydrator gets more interesting by the day. Follow along on Twitter @kathygori