eggplant & okra?

[Heather]

How do you cook eggplant?
I would like to try growing some this year.
Also what is the best okra to use to make fried okra?
Thanks

[turnagerg]

I've always tried to find "cowhorn" okra, as it was called when I was growing up. There may be newer varieties now that do better. A friend recently told me of a variety that he likes better... makes a longer pod that remains tender better than others. Don't remember the name but he promised to get me some seed. Maybe others can give us pointers?
Whatever you choose don't plant too early. Okra like cotton requires warm temps to sprout and grow.

[Bird]

There are so many varieties of okra that I have no idea what's "best"; never found one I didn't like. However, what I always planted was Clemson Spineless myself.

As for eggplant, the only way my wife and I have prepared it is to peel it, slice it in quarter inch or less slices, dip them in beaten egg, then in either flour or a flour/corn meal combination and then fry them. One of the popular cafeteria chains in the Dallas area used to always have an eggplant casserole that I liked, but I never got the recipe.

[wiltat2]

Here is one for eggplant parmesan with links to other recipes for eggplant:

http://www.gourmetsleuth.com/recipe_eggplantp.htm

Hope you enjoy.
Wil [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

[Heather]

Thanks for the recipes, great advice and ideas, everybody. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I'll try them, sounds good.

[Pat]

Eggplant may be "hollowed out" and stuffed. Cut in half, stuff with whatever you like. I have used hamburger meat, cheese, and various spices and sauces. Anything that is good on a pizza works OK to stuff one.

Thin sliced peeled eggplant can be treated a lot like potatos in potatos are rotten, oops I mean... potatos au gratin.

I have minced them and included in chilli.

You can sautee thin slices in olive oil (butter if your cholesterol situation permits) alng with thin sliced (tenderized, well pounded) abalone with or without cloves of garlic (whole or sliced in halves or fourths.)

Eggplant shrimps jalapeno flambe:

Required materials:

Fairly thin sliced eggplant (peeled)

jumbo shrimp (Guamas shrimp from the Sea of Cortez are my personal favorite in about 8 to the pound)

julienned jalapeno peppers (Serranos or Habeneros if your tounge is insensate.)

A good high temp cooking oil. I prefer peanut but canola is fine too.

151 proof rum but you can substitute medical alcohol (ethanol, i.e. grain alcohol) but rum is superior because it has THE flavor.

Freshly steamed rice to make a bed of rice over which the other ingredients are served.

Process:

Put a couple teaspoons of oil (more if making a large batch) in a wok (preferred) or a frying pan or on a grill and begin to heat (just short of smoking is the goal) toss in and stir fry the peppers while the oil is heating. Remove the peppers before they carmelize or are overcooked (reserve the pepers)

Add the peeled, deveined, and headless shrimp (thawed if they were frozen) and begin to stir fry. When the shrimp are starting to cook (heating up pretty good) but well in advance of being done, add the eggplant and continue to stir fry. When the shrimp are done (doesn't take too long) and the eggplant is well softened you reduce the heat considerably and put the peppers back in the pan with the rest of th;e stuff, dump in the rum (an oz or two depending on size of the batch) stir briefly and then ignite the mix and when the flame dies down but hasn't gone out begin to ladle the mixture over the rice.

Different people like to handle the "flambe" part in different ways. Some try to stop the fire prematurely to retain more alcohol. It is much more spectacular when the rum is ignited in a room with reduced illumination. If you don't mind a little rum in your rice it is also much more spectacular to ladle the contents of the wok over the rice while the fire is raging. You have to be careful but it is neat to watch and a little rum in this concoction taste OK.

The shrimps pick up a little pepper heat from the oil where the peppers were sauteed as does the eggplant. I prefer a significant quantity of peppers when I do it. Two of these shrimp make a decent serving (1/4 lb) but it works with smaller shrimp too. With the hugh shrimp from the Sea of Cortez I use at least one large jalapeno per shrimp and way more eggplant per person as jalapeno.

If you really don't like eggplant you can leave it out or substitute zuchinni. You can add whole fresh garlic cloves (or halved) to the stir fry but be careful to not overcook or them. Sometimes a spritz of lime juice (can substitute lemon) is an interesting addition. I supply the lime on the side. A guacamole salad goes well with this. Some people drink Mexican beer with it but I think sangria is as good or better.

Hot buttered flour tortillas (with honey on the side for those who like that flavor note with this concoction make a good addition. Lime or orange sherbert make a good desert with this.

Ay carumba, ahora yo tengo hambre!!

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Heather]

Wow Pat I'm impressed. Thanks for all the information. I appreciate it. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] I'll try it all.

[Pat]

Bird, I may have mentioned this to you previously but Heather hasn't heard it... Yet.

Shortly after my dad got a job with a major pipeline company (Magnolia Petroleum Co, Mobil Oil the red Pegasus folks) he got promoted from diging ditches and such to "walking the pipeline" where you actually physically walk the route of the buried pipeline looking for evidence of leaks such as discolored vegetation or a pool of black sticky stuff.

Anyway some city folk moved out into the country and built a house. As their place was adjacent to the pipeline he walked right by their house and one spring day they saw him and offered him a glass of water. They chatted and discovered he knew some about gardens so thay asked for planting recommendations. One of the plants he recommended was okra.

Later in the summer he was passing by again and noticed their nice large garden filled with his recommended plantings. He observed the okra going to seed with huge unpicked mature pods and figured they didn't like okra. They saw him inspecting the garden and invited him in for lunch.

He commented that it was too bad they didn't like the okra to which they replied that they didn't like it at first but after they learned to only use the tender young leaves it was pretty good.

He felt compelled to tell them the part everyone else eats and did. He went on to other jobs within the company and didn't ever find out if they liked the pods to eat.

I don't have any family eggplant stories.

[img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] Pat [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Bird]

Pat, that may be the first time I've heard of anyone eating okra leaves. However, speaking of leaves, we ate a lot of Poke when I was a kid in Oklahoma (come to think of it, still ate a lot as an adult, too). It grew wild along the creek, around barns, etc. Then when I was doing a gas leakage survey in north central Pennsylvania, I noticed a lot of people had it growing as an ornamental in flower beds around their houses. And although I asked several people, I never found anyone who had eaten it. So in Oklahoma it was food; not an ornament, and in Pennsylvania, it was an ornament; not food. [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[Heather]

Hello Pat, Bird,
Cute story Pat, I laughed so hard I almost had tears. I love a good story. Hey Bird does poke look like a thick stem, good sized leaves, when big with poisonous red berries? My dad said once "if you cook the leaves when young that it's good", but I thought he was just making fun. He used to crush the berries and let us use it like paint as long as we didn't touch our face. I believe he said it was poke, I could be wrong.