Ishihara Park Learning Garden is buzzing with colorful butterflies and bumblebees briskly circulating, doing their bit to keep the garden flourishing. And flourishing it is. I see some beautiful curly kale, squash, cherry tomatoes, basil, onion, and pumpkin, but what really caught my eye are the hand sized Japanese eggplant.
The eggplants come in a variety of purples, some dark and rich and others more of a lighter, violet color. These eggplants are much thinner than the wide globe eggplants that we commonly see in the grocery store. They also have fewer seeds and are less bitter, which means you can just season them and stir fry or grill them. When harvesting Japanese eggplant, I have learned that it is best to cut them, using shears or scissors from their tough stems once they reach about 7-8 inches long. Letting the eggplants get too big can render them quite bitter. Once you have picked the eggplants, you can store them in the fridge for up to a week.
Eggplant is such a versatile, nutritious vegetable. Containing phytonutrients with an antioxidant capacity to help deter cancer, eggplant is another of the garden’s healthy offerings. Eggplant is hardy: it can be grilled, sautéed, fried, and roasted. My favorite way of cooking eggplant is by roasting it, so that it becomes firm on the outside but almost jammy and tender on the inside.
For this recipe, I spice up the eggplant with a yogurt-based marinade seasoned with fragrant cumin, garlic, and ginger, and then grill it to perfection in the oven. This makes for a hearty end of summer dish the whole family can enjoy with some rice or naan, a true celebration of summer.
Tandoori Style Eggplant Recipe
Ingredients:
4-5 Japanese Eggplants sliced in half lengthwise and cut into 1 inch half moons
⅔ cup of plain yogurt
1 TBS vegetable oil
1 TBS tomato paste
½ TBS minced garlic
½ TBS grated ginger
1 tsp cumin powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp salt
Dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
Lemon juice (optional)
Method:
- Combine the yogurt, oil, tomato paste, garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric, salt, and cayenne pepper in a large bowl and mix well
- Turn on oven to 400 degrees
- While your oven is preheating add eggplant to the yogurt mixture and let it marinate until the oven comes to temperature
- Once your oven reaches 400 degrees spoon out the eggplant onto a parchment lined baking pan
- Bake for 15 minutes, flip eggplant pieces over, and bake for another 10 minutes
- Remove from oven after 25 minutes and enjoy with a squeeze of lemon
Salima Saunders
