{"id":17823,"date":"2015-08-03T22:48:07","date_gmt":"2015-08-03T20:48:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=17823"},"modified":"2015-08-08T14:49:57","modified_gmt":"2015-08-08T12:49:57","slug":"drying-aubergine-in-the-sun-over-the-stove-or-in-the-oven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/?p=17823","title":{"rendered":"Drying Aubergine (in the Sun, over the Stove or in the Oven)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"aubegine_dried\"As you might have noticed, I am regularly drying fruits and vegetables. Thus, not only do I save slightly withered\u00a0\u00a0produce\u00a0from the bin, but above\u00a0all I obtain better quality cheap homemade products. I\u00a0prepare\u00a0my own\u00a0vegetable stock mixture<\/a>, dried apples, pears<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0mushrooms, powdered garlic<\/a>, half-dried tomatoes<\/a>… Nonetheless,\u00a0I must admit aubergine was\u00a0one of the last vegetables I would think of drying\u00a0(on the other hand,\u00a0I was\u00a0sceptical about dried\u00a0daikon<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0discovered harihari zuke<\/a>, one of my favourite\u00a0pickles). When I read in\u00a0Japanese Farm\u00a0Food<\/a>\u00a0by Nancy Singleton Hachisu about\u00a0the author’s mother-in-law aubergine drying process, I was so excited to try it, I\u00a0prepared\u00a0a small batch\u00a0practically the following day. Once rehydrated and used in a soup, the aubergine tasted so good and acquired such a nice texture, I decided to\u00a0carry on drying\u00a0it throughout the\u00a0summer.<\/p>\n

From what I read in Japanese Farm\u00a0Food<\/a> and on\u00a0internet, once rehydrated, aubergine can be added to soups, stews, sauces, pickled in vinegar… which already makes quite a list to experiment with. After the above-mentioned\u00a0soup test I can say aubergine\u00a0acquires a slightly\u00a0“mushroomy” aroma, its\u00a0flavours get concentrated and it becomes\u00a0soft but slightly chewy without becoming mushy and it will certainly add an original touch to many slowly simmered\u00a0winter dishes. \u00a0Aubergines are now delicious and cheap, so it’s the best moment to stock up our pantries. Look out for new ideas to eat dried aubergine I will certainly post in near future!<\/p>\n

If you want to discover Japanese\u00a0countryside eating habits\u00a0and\u00a0to learn Nancy Singleton Hachisu’s creative ways to handle local culinary traditions, I strongly encourage you to buy\u00a0Japanese Farm\u00a0Food<\/a>, one of the most inspiring\u00a0cookery books I know.<\/p>\n

TIPS: Nancy Hachisu Singleton\u00a0recalls her mother-in-law drying aubergine outside. If you don’t have conditions to do it (I don’t),\u00a0I have explained below other drying options.<\/p>\n

Obviously your dried aubergine will be more Japanese if you use Asian smaller variety. I don’t have access to those, so I have just used standard Western aubergines and it worked too.<\/p>\n

You can dry the aubergine either cut into thick slices or into thick short strips (for example 2 cm x 6-7cm). The former is the quickest and easiest way to do it, but the small strips will save you the cutting steps when you use them dehydrated.<\/p>\n

When you want to use your dried aubergine pieces, place them in a bowl of hot water and wait until they become soft. If you have big slices, I advise cutting them into bite-sized pieces before cooking or frying or pickling.<\/p>\n

Preparation: one day\u00a0– several days, depending on the drying method<\/em><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/em><\/p>\n

aubergines, leaves and stalks removed<\/em><\/p>\n

Cut the aubergines into thick (2cm\/about3\/4 in slices) or thick strips (2 cm thick and 2cmx6-7cm long (about 3\/4inx2,5-3in)).<\/p>\n

You can dry them either in the sun or above the stove or in the oven. The oven method is the quickest (you will dry them in one day) but it’s the only one which costs money.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014DRYING IN THE SUN:<\/p>\n

Place the aubergine\u00a0pieces\u00a0on a piece of baking paper\u00a0making sure they do not touch each other.<\/p>\n

Put the baking paper sheets in the full sun either outside (balcony, porch, garden table…) protecting them from the wind and animals or inside of your house, for example on a window sill.<\/p>\n

Taste them every day\u00a0to check the dryness and texture. They must be completely dry.<\/p>\n

Put the dried, cool aubergine pieces\u00a0in a jar with a lid. They will keep at least for a year (no need to refrigerate).<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014DRYING IN THE OVEN:<\/p>\n

Preheat the oven to 50\u00b0C (122\u00b0F).<\/p>\n

Place the aubergine\u00a0pieces on baking paper, making sure they do not touch each other.<\/p>\n

Taste them every 4-5 hours to check the dryness and texture. They must be completely dry and hard.<\/p>\n

The drying process can be divided into several days.<\/p>\n

Put the dried, cool aubergine pieces\u00a0in a jar with a lid. They will keep at least for a year (no need to refrigerate).<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014DRYING OVER THE STOVE (works best with gas stove):<\/p>\n

Put the\u00a0aubergine pieces\u00a0on a thick thread and hang high above the stove.<\/p>\n

The aubergine\u00a0slices will dry while you cook, so of course this process should be divided into several days.<\/p>\n

Taste them every day\u00a0to check the dryness and texture. They must be completely dry and hard.<\/p>\n

Put the dried, cool aubergines\u00a0in a jar with a lid. They will keep at least for a year (no need to refrigerate).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As you might have noticed, I am regularly drying fruits and vegetables. Thus, not only do I save slightly withered\u00a0\u00a0produce\u00a0from the bin, but above\u00a0all I…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[82,50,22,18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17823"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17823"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17932,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17823\/revisions\/17932"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.withaglass.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}