Spanish Eggplant Fries with Honey | Berenjenas de la Abuela Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Should I salt eggplant before ratatouille? ›

Not necessarily; it depends on what you're looking for in the finished dish. Though salting works when you want the eggplant to be creamy and tender — such as with parmigiana — in those cases where you want the eggplant to retain its shape and have a slightly firmer texture — such as ratatouille — you can skip it.

The Spanish in general are also great vegetable-stuffers, too, and love to fill aubergines, peppers, or courgettes with minced meat and rice before baking them in the oven. Piquillo peppers stuffed with creamy salt cod is a timeless classic of the Basque Country and nearby Navarra.

I tend to soak the slices in a bowl of water with a couple of tablespoon of salt for about 30-45 minutes. It doesn't have to do with bitterness, but I find that in doing this, the fried eggplant turns out less greasy," Jenkins says.

Salting: Salting removes excess liquid and some of the bitterness. Today's eggplants are bred for mildness, though, so it's not as important as it used to be (if you are frying eggplant, salting will ensure a creamy texture and rich flavor). This method works for eggplant slices, cubes, or planks.

China (34M tonnes) constituted the country with the largest volume of eggplant consumption, accounting for 67% of total volume.

The Bottom Line. Eggplant is a high-fiber, low-calorie food that is rich in nutrients and comes with many potential health benefits. From reducing the risk of heart disease to helping with blood sugar control and weight loss, eggplants are a simple and delicious addition to any healthy diet.

Salting eggplant is often explained on two points: The first point contends that eggplants can be quite bitter, and salting helps cut the bitterness. (No, salt doesn't draw out bitterness. It just helps hide it.) Second, salting eggplants reduces the sponginess and leaves you with a creamy, silky texture.

Many recipes call for salting and rinsing eggplant before cooking it to draw out its bitterness. Brining can be used instead and has the added advantage of helping the eggplant keep its shape when it's cooked, whether your recipe calls for baking, frying, or grilling.

The two major components of an eggplant are water and air, so it makes sense to get rid of that water when you want to get a firmer, less soggy texture. I sprinkle a generous amount of salt over sliced eggplant and let it sit in a bowl for 45 minutes.