Magical Foodlore Moments: Eggplant – Who Would Have thought?

img_54581I have to be honest and say that eggplant is not my favorite vegetable UNTIL Linda taught me otherwise. She makes a great eggplant lasagna and she makes great roasted eggplant. But with this latest recipe she has outdone herself! Our Two Friends Thai Eggplant and Red Pepper Stir Fry recipe is another crowd pleaser. So easy and so yummy it will become another go-to vegetable dish in your family. When served over a bed of rice, it becomes a delicious main dish! Check out the recipe on our website at:  http://twofriendsinakitchen.com/recipe/thai-eggplant-and-red-pepper-stir-fry.

Of course there’s a magical foodlore story to go along with this recipe. Linda and her husband Tom love to garden. Every year they plant eggplant and every year their garden prodimg_4729uces perfectly shaped and gorgeous purple eggplants. This year, however, they kept waiting for the eggplant to turn its vibrant purple, but instead as they checked their garden day after day, they continued to see these small, round, green ball-shaped plants.

Being her usual curious self, Linda did a little research and found that the eggplant they planted is actually called Thai Eggplant. It never turns purple and it tends to be much more roundish in shape than your traditional eggplant. She also found that they are sweet and delicious!

Well, never wanting to waste a vegetable from the garden, she whipped up this amazing stir fry recipe to share with all of us and of course it was truly an amazing combination of flavors and textures that melt in your mouth. So, the moral of this story is, “don’t be afraid to pick up and experiment with a new vegetable you discover at the farmer’s market, at your grocery store, or even in your own garden.” You will be glad you did!

As always, when you try our recipe, let us know what you think. If you have used Thai Eggplant in a recipe in your kitchen, we’d love to hear about it!