Eggplant with Kimchi
an easy, healthy way to use up all that farmer's market eggplant
It’s prime eggplant season! Have you seen all the beautiful varieties at the farmers market recently? Even the supermarkets have gorgeous ones. It’s so tempting to buy them all even just os they can sit on your counter as decor.
But what to do with them? I wanted to create an easy, one pan, healthy recipe that could work for any kind of eggplant that might come into your kitchen. This is it! All great ingredients that come together in under 10 minutes. The result is a delicious, umami way to eat eggplant and reap the benefits of kimchi. Since kimchi is full of all that good bacteria for our gut, we don't want to heat it very much, because that would kill those bacteria! So you add the kimchi just at the end.
Put an egg on it. My motto for most things. But seriously, this is so good served with a small side of white rice and a perfectly fried egg right on top. YUM.
Ingredients:
1 large eggplant, or several small eggplants
¼ cup olive oil, avocado oil or ghee (almost any oil would work here)
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
a 1” piece of ginger, peeled and finely chopped
1 cup of kimchi (including some liquid), roughly chopped
1 teaspoon of toasted sesame oil (optional, but tasty)
a small handful of cilantro and/or basil, torn up
Here’s How:
Cut the eggplant into approximately 1.5” pieces. If you're using baby eggplants, halve them or cut them into 1.5” slices.
Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add in the oil. Once the oil is hot add your eggplant. Trying to ensure all the cut sides are touching the hot pan.
Cook for 5-7 minutes until the eggplants have a nice golden color to them. Season the eggplant liberally with salt (eggplant needs a lot of salt!) Flip all the eggplant pieces over and cook for another 2 minutes until all the pieces are golden and soft.
Turn off the heat and add the chopped garlic and ginger. Toss everything together using the residual heat to cook the garlic and ginger a little bit, maybe 30 seconds.
Stir in the kimchi and toasted sesame oil. Transfer to a bowl or platter immediately and garnish with the herbs.