Aubergine (eggplant) recipes

aubergines with lentils and sun-dried tomatoes
dry fried aubergine
Italian-style stir-fry
stir-fried mushroom and aubergine with coconut
aubergine caviar
Happy Island eggplants
aubergine and tomato salad
ginger and lemon aubergines
aubergines with courgette and pumpkin seed sauce
tofu, almond and aubergine cutlets
aubergine toast
vegetable bake with red wine
aubergine dhal
aubergine cutlets with green pepper sauce
vegetable pasta bake
Thai-style aubergine and coconut curry
summer vegetable sandwiches
mashed brinjal with red peppers and green peas
aubergines a la Imran
aubergine pasta
aubergine and marrow pakora
avocado and aubergine salad
aubergines and potato
aubergine chanakh
mutabel
fried aubergine slices
aubergines stuffed with walnuts

Aubergines, eggplants, brinjals, bengain, patlican, bakhlizhan, melanzana.....just some of the names I've come across for this amazing vegetable. Melanzana means something like 'mad apple' in Italian and, as the name rightly suggests, the object we are dealing with here is, indeed, more correctly labelled a fruit and not a vegetable...... But there we go...lot's of things we call vegetables are actually fruits.

Here are a few more facts about eggplants:

The 'mad' bit in the Italian name probably derives from the fact that aubergines, like tomatoes and potatoes, are members of the family Solanaceae, as is Deadly nightshade and Datura.

In south India they are called 'the king of vegetables', probably because you can do so many things with them.

China is the top producer of eggplants in the world.

They are thought to be good for treating high blood cholesterol.

Kathakali dancers in Kerela put aubergine flowers under their eyelids to dye the whites of their eyes red.