Eggplant Chicken - General Principles and Cooking Methods
Chicken with eggplant is a wonderful combination that can bring real pleasure to gourmets. The roots of the dish should be sought in the East, it was there that the tradition of cooking eggplant with spices was born, a little later chicken meat was added to the vegetables.
There are a lot of ways to prepare a dish; eggplant with chicken can be fried, stewed, baked in an oven or on the grill. Variations with herbs and spices provide a lot of opportunities to diversify the dish, making it brighter and more saturated.
Eggplant Chicken - Preparation
The pre-processing of the products when cooking chicken with eggplant is quite simple. As for white meat, it is washed in running water, if it requires a recipe, twist with a meat grinder to mincemeat. Eggplant is soaked in salt water to leave corned beef, and with it the bitterness found in vegetables. This procedure requires about half an hour. If the eggplant is not young, it should be peeled.
Eggplant Chicken - Best Recipes
Recipe 1: Chicken Baked with Eggplant
A great recipe for a festive lunch or dinner.
Ingredients:
- 1 chicken breast;
- 2 eggplants;
- 2 tomatoes;
- 200 grams of hard cheese;
- 1 clove of garlic;
- 100 grams of sour cream or mayonnaise;
- ground black pepper;
- vegetable oil for frying;
- salt;
- greens (parsley, dill, etc.).
Cooking method
Eggplants should be washed, see that there is no water left on them, cut into thin strips longitudinally (it is recommended to use a vegetable slicer). Soak the eggplant strips in salt water, drain the water, fry the strips in vegetable oil until golden brown (3 minutes on each side). It is important that during further preparation of the dish there is no excess vegetable oil on the eggplant, after frying it should be removed from vegetables with a paper towel. Process the chicken breast, then cut into thin slices (transversely), put in a plastic bag, beat off a little with a hammer. Remove the white meat from the bag, salt and pepper to taste.
Wash tomatoes, cut into not very thick circles. Finely chop the garlic, chop the herbs, grate the hard cheese. Chicken with eggplant will be cooked in the oven, so we take the baking dish, put the eggplant in it (overlapping one strip on the other), then make a layer of chicken meat, again a layer of eggplant, tomatoes, salt, pepper, sprinkle with garlic and herbs. The top layer consists of sour cream (mayonnaise) and grated cheese. In the oven, eggplant with chicken is baked for half an hour at a temperature of 180 degrees. After the oven is turned off, let the chicken and eggplant brew for another 10-15 minutes. Before serving, you can sprinkle the dish with chopped herbs.
Recipe 2: Chicken Eggplant Casserole
Casserole is a wonderful dish, but it is often underestimated, associating it exclusively with cottage cheese or potatoes. We offer a recipe for delicious eggplant casserole.
Ingredients:
- ½ kilogram of chicken;
- 1 medium-sized eggplant;
- 2 eggs;
- 1 carrot;
- ½ red onion;
- 3 tablespoons of semolina;
- 1 hot pepper;
- vegetable oil for frying;
- salt;
- curry.
Cooking method
Cut the eggplant into small cubes, soak them in salted water for 15 minutes. Three carrots on a coarse grater, finely chop the onion, mix the ingredients, sauté in vegetable oil until a golden color appears. After the onions and carrots are fried, add the eggplant previously squeezed (without water) to them, mix and fry until cooked. The filling is ready.
We chop chicken, add chopped red pepper (seed should not be used, otherwise it will be too spicy), curry, salt, eggs and semolina.
Put a little vegetable oil in the baking dish so that the casserole does not burn, put half the chicken base on the bottom, put the filling and again the chicken base. Grease the surface of the casserole with vegetable oil, place the dish in the oven, bake for 30-40 minutes at a temperature of 200 degrees.
Casserole can be served with a side dish or seasoning with sauce.
Recipe 3: Chicken with Eggplant and Mushrooms
Chicken, eggplant and mushrooms give a great taste, especially if cooked in red wine.
Ingredients:
- 1 chicken breast;
- 2-3 eggplant;
- ½ kilogram of mushrooms;
- 100 milliliters of red semisweet wine;
- 2 onions;
- 100 milliliters of soy sauce;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- ground black pepper;
- red ground pepper;
- salt;
- vegetable oil for frying.
Cooking method
Boil the chicken in salted water, cool, separate from the bones and chop.
Cut eggplant into cubes, soak for 30 minutes in salted water and fry for 15 minutes on low heat, not forgetting to stir constantly.
Cut the mushrooms quite finely, salt and fry in vegetable oil.
Mix wine, 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, ½ cup of water, soy sauce, add salt, red and black pepper.
Finely chop the onion, put it in a large pan, fry in vegetable oil until golden brown, lay the chicken and continue to fry for another 10-15 minutes. Add mushrooms, eggplant, chopped garlic and pre-cooked and pending sauce.
The dish is stewed for about 15 minutes on a small fire, do not forget to stir it constantly so as not to burn, and an unpleasant aroma of burnt products does not appear.
Chicken with eggplant and mushrooms can be served on the table with boiled potatoes, rice, vegetables or herbs, it all depends on the taste preferences of the hostess, household and guests.
Eggplant Chicken - Useful Tips from Experienced Cookers
- When choosing eggplant, it is important to focus on the young fruits, they are the most juicy and pleasant to taste. Do not be upset if you only have an old vegetable in stock, there is more trouble with it, but with proper processing, it will not spoil the culinary masterpiece.
- Do not digest chicken meat, all the juice leaves it and the flavor is lost, remember that later it will be heat-treated again, so excessive zeal in this case is unacceptable.
