There are a lot of Greek recipes that utilize eggplant…but this one is one of the simplest ones and very healthy AND only has 6 ingredients. My mother used to make this a lot when I was growing up. I used to love slopping up the olive oil sauce with some warm bread and eating it with some feta cheese…oh my gosh, it is wonderful.

You can use any type of eggplant you want, but I prefer the Japanese style eggplants. I think they have a sweeter taste and also the skin cooks up nice and soft. If you substitute most of the onions with ground beef and then add some bechamel on top it becomes a different eggplant recipe, called papoutsakia (little shoes), but that is a recipe for another time 🙂 .

You just need:

• 2 long Japanese style eggplants, cut in half
• 1 large sweet onion, sliced thinly
• 4-6 garlic cloves, sliced thinly or chopped
• 4 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley, chopped
• 2 tablespoons of spearmint (or other variety of mint), chopped (optional)
• 3/4 cup petite diced canned tomatoes (or chopped fresh), with juices
• 1/8 to 1/4 cup olive oil, plus a couple of drizzles
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Make a slit down the middle of each of the 4 pieces of eggplant and put into a greased pan.
3. Drizzle with olive oil and rub all over the pieces, season with salt and pepper then cover with foil.
4. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the eggplants soften slightly, or you can pan fry with a little oil in non-stick pan.
5. Saute thinly sliced onion in a pan until mostly cooked, then mix in the rest of the ingredients, stir, turn off heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
6. Remove eggplants from oven and open the slits and fill with onion mixture. Stuff each one as much as you can and then set the rest of the filling on top of the eggplants.
7. Cover with foil again and bake in oven for an hour to 1 1/2 hours (the eggplant should be tender and onions should be totally cooked).
8. Remove foil and bake for another 10-15 minutes until top is slightly brown (this step optional).
9. Serve and enjoy with a lettuce salad, feta, and warm bread.

Kali Orexi!

One more day left. I can’t believe how quick this has gone. I don’t want to finish :). There were no new ingredients I worked with today. Does that mean I’ve learned it all? Probably not, but I have learned a lot.

My work area today:

Today Chef Ratch taught us 7 dishes, making some up from the holiday break, and some of my favorite dishes! They were:

• Southern curry paste (Prik Gaeng Kua Kling)
• Stir fried pork with southern curry (Kua Kling Moo)
• Crispy roasted pork belly (moo Krob)
• Barbecue pork served with rice (Khao Moo Dang)
• Spicy minced chicken salad (Laab Gai)
• Thai fish cakes with sweet chili sauce (Tord Man Pla)
• Stir fried eggplant with minced chicken and basil (Pad Ma Kau Yaw)
• Sweet corn in tapioca & coconut milk (Sa Khoo Piak Khao Pode)

I have to say, although everything tasted good, my favorites today included the crispy roasted pork belly, the barbecue pork and the spicy minced chicken salad (one of my all time favorite dishes to eat and NOW I know how to make it). The pork belly had minimal spices on it but it was so tasty and tender, and the skin so crunchy. The barbecue pork had an amazing flavor as well, although that one had A LOT more ingredients in the recipe. AND the chicken laab was not disappointing at all! It’s hard to choose. Narrowing it down to two would be the crispy roasted pork belly or the chicken laab….hummmmm…okay, I will go with the crispy roasted pork belly…at least that is what my taste buds are saying right now.

For the crispy roasted pork belly, you will need:

• 300 grams pork belly, chunk
• 1 coriander root, smashed
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• Enough stock to cover pork belly
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar, optional, if you want it towards the sweeter side
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar

Steps:

1. Add stock to pot with coriander, garlic and pork belly and bring to boil for about 15 minutes, until 60-70% done and the skin is softened. Drain well and wipe dry with a paper towel.
2. Combine the rice vinegar, salt, and sugar (if using) and rub on the skin side of the pork.
3. Use a sharp carving knife (or a skewer or fork) to poke the rind with as many holes as possible in order to get the mixture into the meat.
4. Put pork onto a crumbled piece of aluminum foil and then on a roasting tray/pan.
5. Cook in 215 degree oven for about 30-60 minutes, to dry out the skin/fat a little before frying.
6. Heat oil in a wok over medium heat and then add pork belly (skin side down) to fry until the skin is crispy, about 10 minutes. Turn and leave in for about 5 more minutes or until crispy and the color turns to brown.
7. Remove onto paper towels and let cool for 5 minutes before slicing.
8. Serve with sauce of your choosing. It’s good with Thai sweet sauce (mix 1 tablespoon each of sugar, vinegar, dark sweet soy sauce and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and 1 thinly sliced long green chili, voila, your sauce).

Some of the other wonderful dishes from today:

That was a lot of dishes! Catch you tomorrow (my last day 🙁 ) with another 8 dishes!