Food Notes: 7/22
Eggplant and honey, tariffs, tomatoes, pizza, garlic, and more.
We found ourselves in possession of two Japanese eggplants from the farmer’s market and decided to fry them up. That’s when my wife’s business partner suggested the Spanish dish, Berenjenas con Miel, fried eggplant with honey. Sounds great, why not?
I’ve started frying eggplant in rice flour almost exclusively. It creates a light, crusty exterior that’s almost impossible to replicate without it. My introduction to rice flour was when I was making a fried eggplant copycat dish from Win Son, but I’ve used rice flour now in recipes like eggplant rollatini and eggplant parmigiana with a lot of success, creating a lighter dish than one made with flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs.
One place rice flour has failed me is in coating meat like chicken or beef, frying it, and then using the fond in the pan. The rice flour doesn’t thicken sauces enough. I’ve also made the mistake of using sweet rice flour, which burns before it cooks. I have not experimented with brown rice flour, though I have seen bags of this as well.
Since we’re out on Cape Cod at the moment, rice flour isn’t necessarily falling off the grocery store shelves. I thought ahead though, and packed a bag from Food Bazaar weeks before we departed. These days I use Asian Best brand, from the aisle with other imported and local-made Chinese, Korean, and Thai brands. Bob’s Red Mill is more visibly available at many grocery stores, and offers white rice flour, brown rice flour, and of course, the sweet rice flour, but Asian Best is about a third of the price and works perfectly well.
As for the Berenjenas con Miel, I did the usual and searched the internet for a few recipes as inspiration. It’s also common to make this dish with molasses rather than honey, and I couldn’t help but think pomegranate molasses would make an excellent sauce. Some recipes called for orange blossom water to assist with flavor. I skipped this an added a dash of lemon juice and zest.
Several recipes called for soaking eggplant in milk to remove the bitter flavor. I find this sometimes is true of larger eggplants, but Japanese eggplants typically have fewer seeds. Also a few baths in water is usually enough to draw out bitter flavors.
The most basic of the recipes I looked at essentially called for topping fried eggplant with a drizzle of honey. I also referenced more complicated versions like this one with a number of other spices. Since I was serving this to my older parents, I kept the flavor profile simple, mixing up a honey, oil, lemon juice, and lemon zest sauce to drizzle over the eggplant. I picked a few sprigs of Italian parsley from the garden as a garnish.
The dish turned out great — crispy eggplant with a hint of sweetness. I would consider experimenting with additional flavors, including Turmeric, Cumin, and for a sweet and spicy dish, red pepper flakes.
Ingredients
2 Japanese eggplants
Rice Flour
Frying oil
2 Tablespoons Honey
1 Tablespoon Olive oil
Lemon zest from one lemon
Dash of Lemon Juice
Parsley
Instructions
Slice eggplant into medallions
Soak in water for 20 minutes
Drain water, soak for another 10 minutes
Coat both sides of the eggplant in rice flour
Fry the eggplant until crispy
Salt the eggplant when its hot
Combine honey, olive oil, lemon zest, and lemon juice
Microwave for 15 to 20 seconds and stir (or heat on the stove)
Drizzle the sauced on the eggplant, tossing to coat lightly
Top with finely chopped parsley (substitute cilantro if preferred)
A note on frying oil: eggplant and olive oil go together well, but olive oil has a low smoke point. I typically add a dash of Canola to the olive oil to prevent the oil from burning.
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