First Chinese String Eggplants

[GoDawgs]

Pickles picked the first Chinese String eggplant yesterday. It's one of this year's toys. You're supposed to be able to just cook it with skins on as they're very tender. We'll try them today. Of course, they're not as big as the ones in the photo on the seed packet. Baker Creek. LOL! Those look to be 8" long. LOL!





Maybe as the plant matures the fruits will get bigger. The plant is pretty big!

[PlainJane]

Spiny devils!

[GoDawgs]

Oh, they peel right back and aren't really sharp. Pickles used them today with one other eggplant from the Millionaire plant and threw in some other stuff in a stirfry she made to go with lunch. She left the Strings whole and unpeeled as suggested. They were pretty mild tasting. I just couldn't resist trying them. I call oddballs like that my garden "toys".

Man, I love this time of year when stuff starts getting ready in the garden. We also had plain old fresh picked yellow straightneck squash, nuked in the mikie until just tender. Talk about wonderfully fresh squash flavor from a veggie that's not supposed to taste like much.

[mama_lor]

I think the thicker one (the thicker the neck, the bigger the growth potential) would have grown a lot more. You can see how young it is by the lack of shine and slight iridescence. Looks quite identical to Ping Tung (just a lot shorter, but I do believe they will get longer soon), which is very mild tasting (like all white fleshed eggplant I tried).

[arnorrian]

Stirfrying with doubanjiang and garlic is the way to go.

[Ginger2778]

Stirfrying with doubanjiang and garlic is the way to go.

I had to Google that. Looks pretty good.

[GoDawgs]

Stirfrying with doubanjiang and garlic is the way to go.

I had to look that up too and will look for some next time I go into the city. There's a Korean grocery I usually stop at and will check there. To help me find it I copied off and printed the Chinese characters to take with me since a lot of the stuff the store carries has no English on the label.

[arnorrian]

Stirfrying with doubanjiang and garlic is the way to go.

I had to look that up too and will look for some next time I go into the city. There's a Korean grocery I usually stop at and will check there. To help me find it I copied off and printed the Chinese characters to take with me since a lot of the stuff the store carries has no English on the label.

While there try finding these also, all stuff that lifts simple dishes like veggies, noodles, or rice to a higher level.

Lao Gan Ma black bean chili oil.



Guilin chili sauce.



Oyster sauce.

[mama_lor]

Stirfrying with doubanjiang and garlic is the way to go.

I had to look that up too and will look for some next time I go into the city. There's a Korean grocery I usually stop at and will check there. To help me find it I copied off and printed the Chinese characters to take with me since a lot of the stuff the store carries has no English on the label.

Don't forget about the black rice vinegar and add a bit of that too, it will elevate it a couple of steps. (the three 'asian' ingredients you need are doubanjiang, soy sauce, black rice vinegar). Also add a tiny bit of ground beef (even just a spoon) for a couple more elevation steps. Also, I feel I need to mention this, since when talking about stir fry people think of quickly cooked raw vegetables, the chinese never stir fry the eggplant raw, it's either steamed, boiled, or prefried.

[GoDawgs]

[mention]mama_lor[/mention] , thanks for the additional tips., especially the eggplant prep. I have black rice vinegar and also some Korean gochujang that would probably work too.

[peebee]

You know the braised tofu dish called mapodofu, or mapodofu as it's spelled sometimes? Well you can sub the tofu & use cubed or sliced eggplants instead. And yes, they can be stir fried raw. Chinese restaurants do pre-fry eggplants alot but when you think about it that's cooking right there. So you can just stir fry once without that added step. At least that's how maponasu as the dish is called in Japan, is made by home cooks. Nasu means eggplant. One if my favorite dishes.