Eggplant

[levamssg]

Any ideas what to do with eggplant??

My husband gave me a beautiful basket of fruit/veges for our anniversary ... tomatoes, peaches, apples, zucchini, summer & butternut squash, grapefruit, mangos, oranges, and a lovely eggplant! I'm putting it all to good use, but I've not had any experience with eggplant (cooked OR raw) and am trying to figure out a way to fix it ....

thanks!

[flutterfly]

Go to www.fromsadtoraw.com there is a recipe for eggplant pizza that looks very good.
What a nice thing for your Husband to give you. :p

[Wendy]

I tried Alissa's eggplant pizza, didn't work out well for me.

[THX-1138]

You could slice it real thin and use for a ravioli or a manicotti with some pate or cheese in the middle. I bought an eggplant today, and I didn't know what to do with it, so I just ate plain... the whole thing. :o

[Melissa]

Same here Wendy, not to my liking. Eggplant has joined potatoes on my raw "blech!" list. That's okay though since eggplant seems to make my fibro (joint pain) worse, so no great loss.

[Sweet lips]

Melissa - eggplan is a night shade and a not good for your items.

Now -levamsg - I use eggplant as a bacon -Got the recipe from Top Raw Men
I love it I love it and it does make a great ELT on onion bread with you cream dressing. Nothing like it. Your hubby knows how to give a great gift!
You can mariante it in anything that you like and then dehydrate.

1 large eggplant, thinly sliced lengthwise
3/4 c. oil * I only used 1/4 cup oil
1 tsp. cayenne
2 Tbl. honey
4 Tbl. Ume Plum Vinegar

Marinate for 2 hours. Place on teflex sheets and dehydrate for 9 hours. Turn bacon over and dehydrate another 9 hours. (didn't take me that long)
- from "How We All Went Raw" by Top Raw Men

[Wendy]

Melissa,

That's strange about the eggplant, but probably because of its membership in the nightshade family.

I cannot really tell any difference from eating certain foods. My body is kinda on an all the time pain so I think it doesn't really detect differences. My pain is MUCH less than it used to be, but it is still omnipresent.

[RawTruth]

Oh wow, Sweetlips, that sounds sooo great, I'm picking up an eggplant tomorrow. Here I threw one away last week because it went soft while I was trying to figure out what to do with it!!

[Allison]

Alissa's Eggplant Parmesan is very tasty. We also like to use the recipe Sweetlips gave cut up on raw pizza.

[levamssg]

Thanks for all the great suggestions ... Yeah - my husband is really a sweetheart and very supportive of my raw food choice.

Bacon - wow. I'm going to marinate/dehydrate part of it - the idea of a ELT sounds really yummy. I have a few slices of onion bread right now.

plus, I'm going to chop up part of it and eat it with the leftover marinara sauce tonight. I love Alissa's marinara sauce!

and since I've never had eggplant - yep - going to munch a little bit of it raw as well. Purple is my favorite color - so a purple vege can't be all bad. If I really like it, I'm going to tackle Alissa's parmesan. !!

I'll have to figure out a source for macadamia nuts tho. Can't find raw ones in either of the health grocery stores here.

[tglasco4]

Hmmm I am wondering if I put an eggplant in my food processor and grind it up like meal, then season it, what it will taste like??

I always come up with these ideas on a fast....LOL

[zoetastic]

What if you DON'T have a food dehydrator?? Then what do you do with eggplant?

This was the only one I could find and it seems like it would be very very salty and I don't know if tahini is raw anyway..


Eggplant Lasagna
1 medium to large eggplant
2 cups water
1/4 cup nama shoyu, or tamari sauce
1 tsp. sea salt
Cut eggplant thinly lengthwise. Marinate in water, nama shoyu, or tamari sauce and sea salt for at least 2 hours, and up to 12 hours. Dry the eggplant slices with a paper towel. Prepare the following in separate bowls:

1 cup tomato sauce (can be made as shown in spaghetti bolognaise recipe)
2 cups shredded zucchini
a few slices of red onion
Cheese sauce:

1/3 cup tahini
1/3 cup olive oil
2 Tbs. nama shoyu, or tamari sauce
Mix together in a bowl until smooth. Create different layers, alternating: Eggplant, tomato sauce, shredded zucchini, cheese sauce, eggplant, tomato sauce, etc. Finish with shredded zucchini, and decorate with a few slices of onion.

Any other ideas of what to do with eggplant if you don't have a dehydrator?

Thanks,
Zoë

[Allison]

Todd,

Eggplant is often used as a meat substitute. I think it would probably taste good the way you described.

Zoe,

The recipe looks good. You can buy raw tahini, or you can make your own by grinding up sesame seeds in a coffee grinder then adding a little water or oil.

[vegangelist]

another suggestion: make vegan eggplant chips. this lady at the co-op i go to makes raw crackers and cookies and sells little bags of them. she recently started making vegan chips, but i have made them at home myself too. Peel (very important, didn't do this the first time...bitter, bitter, bitter) the eggplant and then slice into rounds about 1/3 inch thick, maybe 1/4 inch if you want them thinner. Brush them or toss them with a mixture of olive oil, sea salt and herbs (italian seasoning) and garlic (if you want...it is good without too). They don't need to be soggy, just have a little oil mixture on them. Then dehydrate till chewy/crispy. they should be fully dry but not to the brittle, crispy stage. still chewy is yummy. these are very very good. lucky me tho....my husband hates eggplant, so more for me :)

kristi

[tracyinfo]

I myself have made the bacon from sadtoraw and it was great! Even my kids liked it.

Also, I have made an eggplant lasagna, not sure if it was the recipe above, but after soaking it a while, it was really good.

I also have yet to try, salting it with a little water, setting aside, and then marinating chunks in some kind pickling broth. I read about this one, but have not tried it yet.

-Tracy

[levamssg]

Melissa -
Now -levamsg - I use eggplant as a bacon -Got the recipe from Top Raw Men
I love it I love it and it does make a great ELT on onion bread with you cream dressing. Nothing like it. Your hubby knows how to give a great gift!
You can mariante it in anything that you like and then dehydrate.

1 large eggplant, thinly sliced lengthwise
3/4 c. oil * I only used 1/4 cup oil
1 tsp. cayenne
2 Tbl. honey
4 Tbl. Ume Plum Vinegar

Marinate for 2 hours. Place on teflex sheets and dehydrate for 9 hours. Turn bacon over and dehydrate another 9 hours. (didn't take me that long)
- from "How We All Went Raw" by Top Raw Men


Tried this - only I read the recipe totally wrong and put in 2 Tablespoons of cayenne!!! ummm - was a BIT spicey. Okay - it wasn't edible after the first bite - but I think the basic taste was good after my mouth calmed down.

I sliced up some of the eggplant and munched it - dipped in some of my tomato/vege salad dressing. It was quite tasty actually.

Thanks for all the ideas.

[carolg]

I wonder if dates or date water will give me the honey replacement. I don't usually have sweetners around but dates. Any thoughts from the "peanut gallery?" Thanks you all. I too have thrown out eggplants and they always seem bitter.

Wonder if celery sticks would take the place of salt when soaking the eggplant. I am thinking a few slices of celery as they are natural form of sodium from my recollection.

Questions, questions...that's my name today, but maybe I stole the words out of someone's mouth quicker then they wanted.
carolg

[RawTruth]

How about agave nectar? I would think that soaked & blended dates would work. Why do you want to soak eggplant in salt? Ummm ... i know that's the first step in my cooked eggplant recipe, but I think that's to "leach" out the moisture. Well, I'm thinking that if you do want to do this, maybe Nama Shoyu?

[tracyinfo]

I wonder if dates or date water will give me the honey replacement. I don't usually have sweetners around but dates. Any thoughts from the "peanut gallery?" Thanks you all. I too have thrown out eggplants and they always seem bitter.

Wonder if celery sticks would take the place of salt when soaking the eggplant. I am thinking a few slices of celery as they are natural form of sodium from my recollection.

Questions, questions...that's my name today, but maybe I stole the words out of someone's mouth quicker then they wanted.
carolg

You can make a date paste as a sweetener to replace honey.

About the celery sticks instead of the salt though, I am not sure if that would work. The salt leeches out any bitterness. Maybe just soaking the eggplant would help?

If you try it, let us know how it turned out.

-Tracy

[Allison]

Terry,

I don't know how you even took one bite of that stuff. It's hot enough with just the one teaspoon...but 2 Tablespoons! Oh my!

[tglasco4]

Ok....I made up a recipe.......my kids give it the seal of approval......I tasted alittle.....its Delicious!!

1 eggplant
3 cups of almonds ground fine
onion powder
garlic power or fresh ground garlic
sea salt
olive oil
cayenne
ground sesame seeds (about half a cup)
3 brazil nuts

I put the eggplant in the food processor with the seasonings (except the cayenne) and the ground sesame seeds and let it mix......its alittle strong at this point.

Then I grind up the almonds and the brazil nuts. Then mix it together with the eggplant stuff.

I add cayenne to taste.

It is really good. I am thinking about adding some medjool dates to the eggplant mixture, I believe it will be even better then..........we'll see. Fasting is great for my creativity :D .

Todd

[Allison]

Todd,

That sounds good. I wonder if a tomato mixed in with it would be tasty also?

[tglasco4]

Well, I did it with a yellow sweet pepper and a tomato and it was ok....not as good as it was without those items....It probably depends upon one's taste buds but it may be the eggplant (in its raw state) doesn't mix well in terms of flavor with those items. Let me know what you think when you try it!!

Peace.

Todd

[levamssg]

Looks like a great recipe Todd... I'm going to get another eggplant and give that a try.

Allison ...tasting the eggplant with all that cayenne .. well, I didn't know it was going to be quite that hot until it was in my mouth. Sure got my attention pronto!! I may give the bacon recipe another shot - this time with the right combination of ingredients!

[RawTruth]

Todd - you peeled the eggplant? And ... about how much did this make? Since I uncook for one, I don't want to end up with a week's worth! Thanks.

[GlimR]

I just have to say that I made my first batch of eggplant bacon.......it will definitely be a favorite...will adjust the recipe a little bit to suit my taste, will go on the light side with the oil next time... but the texture is awesome and it is very tasty....I bought two lovely eggplants this morning to make another batch...it even looks like bacon~

I might even try a sweet version of this one.....will report back later~ :)