AUBERGINES (EGG FRUIT)

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 168, 12 April 1935, Page 4

AUBERGINES (EGG FRUIT)

Some Good Ways of Cooking Them A comparatively neglected vegetable that might well attract more notice is the aubergine, or egg-apple. The aubergine is like the tomato, in that it is at once a fruit and a vegetable; that it is the fruit of the plant, but it is. used as a vegetable. It may be cooked in many curious and savoury ways. It may be mentioned that the aubergine and tomato were announced together as “new” vegetables in an “Encyclopaedia of Cooking,” publishedl in Loudon in 1529.. Aubergine on Toast. —reel, boil, and serve fruit on toast, pouring some melted butter over it. Curried Aubergine.—Cook gently in a good curry sauce with a little onion and serve on toast with a border of rice. Fried Aubergine.—Cut in slices and lay in salt between two plates for an hour. Pour off the salt-juice, dip each slice iu egg and breadcrumbs, and fi'y. Season sparingly with red pepper. Roasted Aubergines.—Put them whole 1 in the oven in a tin with a little water, and cook gently. ’When' you dish them up, put a little bit of butter on each. • ' * Aubergine Fritters. —-Boil the eggapples until tender. Cut in half and take out the pulp. Season well, dip in egg and breadcrumbs, and fry in hot lard. As will be seen, thes, aubergines require some cooking, but they form a good foundation, and with a little ingenuity a considerable variety of dishes can be made with them. Like tomatoes, they have endless possibilities. Their chief fault is that they contain too much water, and this is why they are sometimes laid in salt, so that, .the salt will extract the liquid and, the two may be poured off together. Savoury Aubergines.—Take fruit of a large size and cut them lengthwise, and remove a good deal of tiie inside, leaving a hollow in each half. Chop up. the inside witli some breadcrumbs, one shallot firmly minced, salt and pepper, and a little sugar. Cook it gently in a small enamel frying-pan with a little butter, and then fill the shells with it. Bind tiie two halves of the fruit together and bake in the oven for half an hour. Aubergines Stir Le Plat (a dish from Languedoc).—Peel and skin the aubergines, cut them up, and lay them in salt. .When the water has been extracted, fry them gently in a little oil or goose fat. When they are cooked, lay them in a pie-dish and cover them either with a thick tomato puree, or with a tine salad dressing prepared with an anchovy, a shallot, chopped parsley, and with a touch of garlic. Above this put some fine breadcrumbs, set in a hot oven for a little, and serve Indian Method.—Cut in slices, fry in ' pan with a little butter, mash up, add cayenne pepper, garlic, and curry powder. Stir while frying.