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Eggplant is a very tasty vegetable, but at the same time quite specific. If you cook it correctly, then you can get dishes with an unusual taste and aroma. To make the dishes spicy and eliminate bitterness, many housewives peel these vegetables.
How to choose
To make the dish delicious for sure, you must be able to choose the products. First you need to decide how exactly you will cook the eggplant. They can not only be easily cooked or fried, but also canned.
If, according to the recipe, the eggplant is cooked with peel, then it must be young. Such eggplant in finished form will not be bitter, and they will not have a substance called solanine, which in large quantities refers to poisons. You can’t eat these vegetables raw.
When choosing vegetables, you need to look at their shell, color and determine the degree of softness. It is best to purchase eggplant with the following characteristics.
- strong;
- the skin should be soft, supple;
- it should not be stains and defects;
- quality eggplants are dark purple in color.
If they are soft and have a wrinkled skin - it means that they contain a lot of solanine. It is better not to buy such eggplants. Large fruits, too, is not recommended to choose, as this is a sign that they have ripened. Such vegetables will also be bitter.
Should I clean?
The top layer of eggplant contains very healthy fibers. They help the digestive system work properly.
Note! Nutritionists say that eggplant peel is healthy, contains nutrients. In addition, it contributes to a better metabolism and it has few calories.
Vegetables are often peeled before cooking. In the case of eggplant, peeling helps eliminate bitterness. If it is necessary that the vegetables retain their shape after cooking, then peeling them is not necessary. It will protect the fruits from deformation.
So that after frying or other heat treatment, the eggplant pieces remain intact, the peel is not removed. You need to choose young fruits, cut them into pieces, and cook. If the vegetables are overripe, they should be immersed in a salt solution for 15 minutes.
The peel of these vegetables to taste quite tart and spicy. High-class chefs are advised to peel vegetables or leave for half an hour, sprinkled with salt. If you cut a vegetable, and you see that the seeds are dark, they must be cut, while capturing a little pulp.
If you yourself have grown these eggplants, and are sure that no harmful substances were used, then you can not clean the eggplants. Those vegetables that you purchased in the store must be peeled. After all, when growing, pesticides were most likely used.
How to clean?
Rinse vegetables under water right before peeling. After all, on the surface there is a large number of microbes, which then fall into the dish. When cleaning eggplant, these rules must be followed.
- First you need to cut off the base with a sharp knife.
- Then, placing the eggplant on a cutting board, and holding it firmly, carefully peel the peel with a peeler or knife.
- Peel the vegetable until the peel is completely removed.
When using a peeler, care must be taken. Otherwise you can get hurt. The fruit is tilted from itself, and peeled from top to bottom. Further, eggplant can be used in the preparation of a wide variety of dishes.
Incomplete cleaning
Eggplant can not be completely peeled. Sometimes cooks use the strip cleaning method.Thanks to this method, you can remove the bitterness, and maintain the shape of the fruit during cooking. Any dish will look beautiful and unusual.
The vegetable must first be washed well, then cut off the base. Next, the eggplant is not completely peeled, but in small strips of about 3 cm wide. You should get the same stripes. After such cleaning, the fruits are cut as needed.
Cleaning after cooking
- Sometimes eggplant is cleaned after cooking. First, they put them in the oven to bake in an unpeeled form, and then clean them.
- They can also be boiled in boiling water, after which the skin will be easier to remove.
- To peel better cleaned, you need to wait for the vegetable to cool completely. Peel the eggplant with a knife. The top layer will be removed without pulp.
- After heat treatment, the vegetable can soften well. After that, it can be cleaned simply by hand or with a fork. Such eggplant can be added to stew or stuffed.
Eggplant can be a great, separate dish or a component of some other. To avoid bitterness, they need to learn how to choose and cook. If the fruits are young, you can not peel them. For overripe, this procedure is mandatory.
Video: why eggplant does not need to be peeled
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