This is a lovely way to prepare Japanese eggplant — the long thin dark purple ones.

There is an old story of an Imam swooning over this most famous of eggplant dishes which is enjoyed from Greece to Iran. However, there seems to be disagreement whether he swooned because the dish was so delicious or because it was so rich and used so much expensive olive oil. In any case, it is very good and gets even better the second day. [From Tess Mallos' The Complete Middle East Cookbook]

6 or 8 long eggplants of medium size
1 large onion
1/2 cup olive oil
6 cloves garlic, chopped
3 medium-sized tomatoes, peeled
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup water

Remove stems from eggplant, then peel off 1/2 inch stripes of skin lengthwise to give a striped effect. Cut a deep slit on one side of each eggplant lengthwise, stopping short of top and base. Place in a bowl of cold, well-salted water and leave for 30 minutes. Drain, squeeze out moisture and dry with paper towels.

Slice onions lengthwise then cut into slender wedges. In a heavy pan heat half the oil and fry onion gently until transparent. Add garlic, cook 1 minute, then combine in a bowl with chopped tomatoes, parsley and salt and pepper to taste.

Place remaining oil in pan and fry eggplants over high heat until lightly browned but still rather firm. Remove pan from heat and turn eggplants so that slit faces up.

Spoon vegetable mixture into slits, forcing in as much filling as possible. Spread remaining filling on top. Add lemon juice, sugar and water and cover pan tightly. Cook over gentle heat for 45 minutes until tender. Add more water only if necessary as eggplants release a lot of moisture.

Leave to cool to room temperature and serve as an appetizer or as a light meal with bread or chill and serve as a salad accompaniment.

So simple, so good! Wash a nice sized eggplant and do not peel. Use a good sharp knife to slice vertically about 3/8” thick and try to keep them uniform. That way you are less likely to have parts burn and others not cook on the fire. Heat your grill to low. Salt then brush with a little olive oil on both sides. Put on the grill and close the cover. Flip when you have some nice marks and wait patiently for them to be soft and nicely brown on the other side. Serve warm or at room temperature! Enjoy~

A good way to prepare eggplant without a lot of oil…makes great left-overs too

Another delicious eggplant recipe from fellow gardener Amy Thompson:

Cut a large unpeeled eggplant in half lengthwise into two pieces, leaving the stem end intact. Cut a slit lenghtwise through the middle of each eggplant half parallel to the original cut, but don’t cut through the stem or blossom end. Salt the eggplant and inside the slit lightly and let sit for a bit to draw out some of the liquid.

Rinse off the salt and squeeze lightly to remove some of the moisture. Chop up some herbs of choice (I used thyme, oregano and rosemary) and some garlic, mix with a little olive oil and stuff into the slit.

Heat a frying pan with PAM or a little olive oil and brown the cut side of both eggplant halves. Add a little chicken stock or wine (or both), cover and simmer till the eggplant starts getting soft. Turn the eggplant, add some veggies of choice (I used green beans, red and yellow peppers and a bit of tomato), and simmer till everything is done.

Serve with slivers of fresh basil and a grating of parmesan. This dish is also wonderful the next day, served on pita with a bit of feta cheese.