I need to make an Indian aubergine dish for an aubergine party on Saturday - a bunch of fellow food bloggers are trying to convince another food blogger friend who thinks she hates aubergine that she's WRONG!

Can anyone suggest which of mum's aubergine dishes I should do?

It doesn't have to be vegetarian, infact combining with meat may well be a clever move though vegetarian is, of course fine.

Thanks

Kavey

I don't know anybody who doesn't like caponata. It cooks down so much it gets sweet and wonderful and loses all resemblance to aubergine. Let me know if you want a recipe-- I have one I really love.

Try recipe 12803, aubergine pakoras. Peel the skin off, so they can't identify them from the purple colour of the slices. They are best made freas, but you can half fry them and take them with you. Then re-fry just before serving, to make them crisp and fresh.

Aubergine doesn't have much flavour in itself, it is fairly bland. It absorbs other flavours well. It is one of my favourite vegetables, I can eat it and enjoy it in any form.

Mum

Caponata is nice but I do need an Indian aubergine dish!

Ma, identifying them as aubergines no problem - the whole evening is planned around everyone bringing an aubergine dish so she can try them all.

Spur of the moment comment, but how about some sort of Indian-Greek Moussaka? Take a classic moussaka recipe, layer it with lots of sliced Aubergines (they will just melt away!) with a great sauce such as

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10048

Ironically I just bought yesterday a carrier bag of Aubergines from the market! Apart from the usual ratatouille I'm looking for more suggestions!

Winton

I love that we have a couple of aubergine threads going, right now!

:)

Make Aubergine pickle Winton, see recipe 10555

Also make some aubergine Bhurta and freeze portions; 10055

I agree with your mum. Hi Mamta! Thanks for commenting on my blog :)

I will definitely look into pakoras but not sure it will be practical to fresh fry them as it's a very small kitchen and a number of cooks needing to finalise their dishes!

BTW Meemalee is our aubergine hating friend, you visited and commented on her blog mum a day or two ago using a link from mine, the post on masterchef! :)

Thanks Mamta!

I should be outside enjoying a glorious sunny day here in London but Aubergine Pickle beckoned -

http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10555

Just up to stage 5 - so will take the neighbour's dog out for a walk and resume later!

Winton

Winton

My wife's moussaka is utterly heavenly: a Greek guest in England once said it was the best she'd ever had (but that we shouldn't mention this to her Greek friends!). It takes her three hours to prepare, so we won't be doing it for our houseguests this weekend: not enough time.

I think that the secret to her success is twofold: she includes sliced potatoes, which you don't always see in Greece, and her b?chamel is fantastic. But mostly, it's the wonderful b?chamel.

(For language bores like me: the Modern Greek word 'moussaka' is stressed on the final syllable.)

Phil

"For language bores like me: the Modern Greek word 'moussaka' is stressed on the final syllable."

I recently heard one Australian chef (can't remember his name) on TV pronouncing it just like that, "my mum's moussaKA". I think it was on Australian Master Chef.

I am going to do http://www.mamtaskitchen.com/recipe_display.php?id=10054 btw!

OK, stuffing paste made in food processor, now stuffed inside the 6 medium aubergines I found in China Town last night, and they're sitting in plastic boxes ready for transportation to my friend's house. The mustard oil is in a separate box (with the asafoetida and cumin seeds in it so can fry off in a pan before pouring onto aubergines in a baking dish) and the leftover stuffing paste is in another box to be smooshed around the aubergines in the baking dish!

Thanks Phil,

Reminds me my Mother used to make a lovely moussaka. Like your wife's recipe the layering always included parboiled sliced potatoes and the b?chamel with lots of strong cheddar cheese! Probably not very authentic but still much the better!

It is great to be reminded of a good recipe that had slipped your memory for a few years!

Cheers, Winton

Don't know what happened but it went so wrong it could not be eaten, truly awful. I don't think the recipe is at fault, something very strange happened, I will try and describe to mum and work it out...

Kavey, I might have a go at this. Were the aubergines undercooked? Let us know if you have any tips. I don't have mustard oil; can I substitute sunflower oil? Probably not, I guess.

No, they were in at 200 for about an hour, in the end... and then, we took them out, scraped off the inedible filling, split them into quarters and baked them another half an hour.

I bought these in China Town and am wondering whether they are importing from somewhere that still grows the older, much more bitter varieties, in which case they would have needed salting in advance?

I have not had to salt an aubergine in 15 years, I buy from supermarkets, local markets, Indian shops - none of them have been bitter.

BUT what was also strange is how the orange paste turned bright green on cooking - was this because of something wrong in the paste OR because the paste ended up drawing out bitterness from very bitter aubergines?

Kavey, I still sometimes salt/degorge aubergines, but only to draw out the moisture if I'm going to fry them rather than being worried about any bitterness.

Rather than bitter aubergines being imported it could be that they were grown in the UK or Holland in Poly Tunnels - Aubergines need a good bout of sunshine to ripen properly; perhaps the ones you bought were simply picked too early?

Phil, sure any good cooking oil would be fine, when out of Mustard Oil I have just added English mustard powder to give it that extra ting!

Winton, could be though they felt the right texture on purchase, not too hard like under ripe ones. My guess is on them being an older bitter variety but I still don't know whether that would have caused the stuffing paste to turn green?

ICK

That is such a shame Kav, no chance of converting your friend then ;-)?

Ma

I haven't used salt on raw aubergines for years. I think I'll try to buy local stuff, and also try to grow my own this year.

By the way: Greek melitsanasalata (aubergine salad, i.e. aubergine paste) is to die for: we do it with loadsa garlic in the summer months. Spread on toast, it's divine.

Phil

The dishes that the others made were all fine, and whilst she wasn't converted, she did announce she wouldn't refuse to ever eat aubergine again, but still wouldn't choose it!

I just can't understand it, I made it only a couple of weeks ago, that is when I took and added the pictures. I made it in a karahi though, will make it in an oven one day soon and see what could have gone wrong. Your stuffing was same as mine?

Yes, I followed recipe exactly.

Even if aubergine was a bitter one, could the paste have drawn the bitterness out and turned bright green? It was a lovely pale yellowey orange when raw, as expected with the spices in it...

Kavey,

I remember reading somewhere that you should always use stainless steel utensils and dishes with aubergine as carbon steel turns the flesh black. Perhaps mixed with orange paste this would result in a green colour. Maybe something you used at your friends house caused a reaction because it wasn't stainless steel.

Might be, she had said she had a glass oven dish but in the end only had a deep metal roasting dish... I guess it could be.

But it was a pretty bright green!

Thanks all

I wish you had taken a picture!

I have some pictures, will download them from camera and try and get one to you tonight or weekend.

That will be good.

OK here are a couple of photos, you can see the way the filling went GREEN looking at the second one:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kavey/4546553986/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kavey/4546554238/

They look very, very strange!