Mexican Style Eggplant Recipes

EGGPLANT TACOS

Steps:

• Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir onion, lemon juice, garlic, and jalapeno pepper into skillet; bring to a simmer and cook until onions soften, about 3 minutes.
• Stir eggplant, cumin, paprika, chili powder, black pepper, and seasoned salt into onion mixture; drizzle remaining olive oil over the top. Cook, stirring occasionally, until eggplant reduces in size and softens, about 15 minutes. Spoon eggplant mixture into tortilla shells.

MEXICAN STYLE EGGPLANT

Steps:

• 1. Roll eggplant in egg and flour. Fry in butter or put in oven until tender.
• 2. In a 1 1/2 quart saucepan combine tomato sauce, green onions, chilies, garlic, and cumin, and let simmer 10 minutes.
• 3. Put eggplant on bottom of a 9 by 13 baking dish and spread sauce mix on top.
• 4. Put cheese on top of sauce and bake at 350 degrees until hot and bubbly about 25 minutes.
• 5. Serve with sour cream and garnish with black olives and basil leaves.

BERENJENA A LA VERACRUZANA - MEXICAN EGGPLANT IN SAUCE

Steps:

• Cut the peel from the eggplant and cut into approximate 1/2 to 3/4 inch strips. Add them a handful at a time to a colander, salting them well between layers, until all of them are in the colander. Set aside for 30 minutes to allow them to "sweat" their bitterness out and lose liquid.
• While the eggplant is in the colander, make the sauce. In a large, heavy pot (I use my Le Creuset), heat the olive oil. Add the onion and sauté until just translucent. Add the garlic and chiles, stir well, and sauté, stirring occasionally, for an additional 7-10 minutes until onion is soft.
• Add the tomatoes and stir well. Sauté, stirring occasionally, for 10-15 minutes and the liquids are reduced by about half.
• Rinse the salted eggplant and drain well.
• Add all the remaining ingredients (including eggplant) to the pot, stir well, and cover. Cook for 15-20 minutes until eggplant is well-cooked and the sauce is the consistency that you like (you may want to remove the cover for the last 5 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit). Remove bay leaves.
• Serve with polenta rounds or squares (or some other favorite method of prepared polenta), drizzled with a little crema. Enjoy!

SPANISH STUFFED EGGPLANT RECIPE (BERENJENAS RELLENAS)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C)
• Wash the eggplants well and cut them in half lengthwise
• Put them on a baking sheet, skin side down and make crisscross cuts through the flesh
• Drizzle with lots of olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly ground pepper
• Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until flesh is completely tender and easy to scoop out
• Take the eggplants out of the oven and let them rest for 15 minutes covered in aluminum foil while you prepare the filling (this ensures they're easy to scoop)
• Mince the garlic and dice the onion and pepper very small
• Saute the diced vegetables in hot olive oil while you scrape out the flesh of each eggplant and add it to the pan
• When the vegetables are starting to brown, add the ground meat (or the vegetarian mixture) and saute until cooked through
• Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat
• Let the mixture rest for a few minutes before filling the empty eggplant skins
• To fill the skins, first add a layer of tomato sauce to the empty skins before filling
• Fill each skin to the top, and cover in mozzarella cheese
• Put under the broiler until just browned on the top
• Enjoy your Spanish stuffed eggplants!

CHEESY AUBERGINE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450.
• Spray baking sheet with oil and place eggplant slices on it in a single layer. Spray the tops of the eggplant with oil. Bake until soft when pressed about 15-25 minutes.
• Meanwhile , in a small pot, combine tomato sauce, chiles, onions, cumin, garlic powder and olives. Bring to a simmer, then simmer, uncovered, over medium-low heat for 10 minutes.
• Turn oven down to 350 when eggplant is done.
• Arrange half the eggplant slices in a single layer over the bottom of a shallow 1 1/2 quart baking dish. Spoon half the sauce over eggplant and sprinkle with half the cheese. Repeat layers ending with cheese.
• Bake at 350 until heated through and bubbly (about 30 minutes).
• Top with sour cream if desired.