Day 107

Chinese Eggplant: After looking at the last few days of blog posts, I decided that it was time to start actually cooking some new foods instead of focusing on ready-to-eat items. While it's easier to look for stuff that's already prepared, it's been limiting my options as of late. Today I decided to hit Your Dekalb Farmers Market to look for some new produce I could work into a meal. I knew that I'd seen several vegetables there on past trips that I'd never eaten, so I figured I could find a few interesting ones to try this week. Different varieties of eggplant have always been something I've wanted to eat, so I picked up these Chinese hybrids today.

After I got them home, I looked online for a quick and easy recipe to try them with. I found a basic Thai-style method, which had me slicing then stir-frying with oil, garlic, fish sauce, sugar and basil. I like all those components on their own, so I hoped they would only enhance the eggplant's flavor. I did notice that it looked a little less seedy that regular eggplant, and the flesh was whiter as well. Once the eggplant was translucent after stir-frying in the oil/garlic, I added the rest of the ingredients and served. The texture was a lot like traditional eggplant, but a bit more tender than what I'm used to. I don't know if it was because of the other ingredients, but I eagerly ate all of it and then had more. Really tasty, and I'll definitely buy again.

I'm liking the idea of actually cooking more new items, so keep on the lookout for more.