How to bake whole eggplants in the oven? How to choose the right quality vegetable for your roast? Should bitterness be removed from the fruit? Answers to all these questions in a step-by-step recipe with a photo. Video recipe.
Exotic eggplants have long been loved in our country. Many delicious different dishes are prepared from them, they form the basis for exquisite vegetable dishes, side dishes, salads and winter preparations. They are also prepared in many ways: boiled, baked in the oven and on the grill, fried in a pan, cooked in the microwave, double boiler, multicooker, etc. Today we'll talk about how to bake whole eggplants in the oven, where they can be cooked in foil, in a sleeve, or on their own.
Baked blue, as they are also called, are tasty and in their own form, but they can also be used for different preparations: marinate, make caviar, freeze for future use for the winter or use it on its own. Plus baking: the healthiest and most gentle way of cooking. These blues contain the maximum amount of vitamins and minerals. For example, in comparison with boiled eggplants, where some of the usefulness is digested, or with fried ones, which are soaked in oil.
It is important to choose the right eggplant for the dish. The blue ones should be with a green and smooth stalk, which turns brown over time, dries up and sometimes becomes covered with a white fungal bloom. Large fruits can be overripe or grown with a lot of fertilizers, which is very harmful. The skin of the fruit is purple, pink, lilac, green, white or almost black. Moreover, it is always glossy, shiny and smooth. Wrinkled blue ones that are stored for a long time. Eggplants should not have mechanical damage: scratches, dents, cuts.
- Caloric content per 100 g - 24 kcal.
- Servings - Any Amount
- Cooking time - 20 minutes
Ingredients:
Eggplant - any quantity
Step-by-step cooking of whole baked eggplants in the oven, recipe with photo:
1. Wash and dry the eggplants with a paper towel.
2. Cut off the tail from the fruit.
3. Use a toothpick or fork to puncture the entire vegetable. This is necessary so that the eggplant does not burst when baking. If you use young fruits, then they do not contain bitterness. If the vegetable is ripe, then you need to remove this bitterness first. To do this, place the eggplants in a container of water and add salt to it. Leave them on for half an hour. Then rinse with running water and dry with a paper towel. The proportion of water and salt: for 1 liter of water - 1 tablespoon. salt.
4. Place the eggplants on a baking sheet and bake in a preheated oven to 180 degrees for 20 minutes. However, the readiness of the vegetable depends on its size. Small blue ones weighing 200-300 g are baked in 20-25 minutes, fruits 0.5 kg - 40-45 minutes. You can also bake eggplants, cut into cubes, cooking time 15 minutes. The finished eggplant is soft inside with a ruddy wrinkled crust.
See also a video recipe on how to properly bake eggplants in the oven and on the grill. Recipes and advice from Ilya Lazerson.
