Mild on its own yet flovoursome when cooked- Brinjal

The eggplant goes by many names; Brinjal, aubergine, egg apple, Guinea squash, or garden egg. The name "eggplant" itself developed in the US, Auatralia, New Zealand and Canada because the fruit of some 18th century European cultivars were yellowor white and resemble goose or hen eggs.

The British refers to it as "aubergine", which was dervied from the French, who in turn derived it from the Catalan "alberginia" In India and South Africa, the fruit is called 'brinjal', which is often the name it is referred to in our local markets.

All Cooked up
This spongy, mild-tasting vegetables is meaty yet low in calories.Unlike most fruit, it is never eaten raw but lends itself well to many cooking methods like grillling, baking, sauteing or braising. Like a sponge, the eggplant soaks up any liquid it is immersed in and some unwitting cooks have found themselves with a soggy mound of incredibly oily eggplant.To avoid this, when frying or sauteing eggplant, be sure to steam them first so that they are already moist and don't need too much oil to turn soft. Similarly, when grilling, simply brush olive over your eggplant slice and griled. The oil si quickly absorbed but is enough to soften the eggplant ar the cooking time progressess.

When choosing eggplants, look for those that are firm and shiny and with unbroken skin. Male eggplant tend to have fewer seeds and so are less bitter than female eggplant- but this is all but indiscernible. Still, to completely eradicate any bitterness , you can cut your eggplant according to your recipe and sprinkle some salt over them. Leave them to rest for about 12-20 minutes and drain the water that is released. Some chefs say that this process also helps to prevent the eggplant from abosrbing too much liquid or oil when cooking.

There are numerous types of eggplants, all of which require a warm climate to thrive. The best-known variety is the purple eggplant which is relatively long and fat. The longer variety of eggplant, in a slightly lighter shade of purple(more common in wet market) are referred to oriental eggplant, while the smaller, slightly streaked eggplant are called apple eggplant, These are commonly used in Thai and Indian dishes.

Tips: To determine the sex of an eggplant, look at the indentation at the bottom. If it is deep and shaped like  dash, it is a female. If it is shallow and round, it's male.