Anyone Can Cook: 2nd Night

Good Morning Everyone!

Welcome back dear friends. It’s your host here again (this time and with everytime from here on out), coming to you live with a special guest and with some words from a circle of friends. We thank you for your support. Continue to sit back and relax, because I have a question, did…

You know the night time, darling (night and day)
Is the right time (night and day)
To be (night and day)
With the one you love, now (night and day)

This time we cooked and dined with eggplant, which contains a potent antioxidant nasunin. Thus, eggplant is brain food. And everyone should feed their brain: it helps you think. So think on this!

Cooking-Night #2: Eggplant (Oh, you’re so powerful. And purple! Oh, I love purple.)

Dish #1: Baigan Bharta
Cook: Bawarchi

Ingredients:

1. 1 large eggplant
2. 1 onion
3. 2 minced garlic cloves
4. ½ tbsp. ginger paste
5. a pinch of Indian Garama Masala
6. 4 basil leaves
7. 2 tbsp. olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Slice eggplant vertically into two halves. Glaze with olive oil and broil. Remove from oven let cool, peel off the skin and set flesh aside.

In a skillet, sauté onion, garlic and ginger in olive oil until tender. Add salt and Garama Masala. Mix for 2-3 minutes. Add broiled eggplant flesh and stir. Cook on low-heat for 5 minutes. Season to liking. Garnish with basil.

Dish #2: 비빔밥
Cook: Borita

Ingredients:

1. chopped eggplant
2. spinach
3. bean sprouts
4. carrot
5. zucchini
6. mushrooms
7. water crest
8. 1 egg
9. 1 cup of steamed white rice
10. 2 tsp. minced garlic
11. just a little sesame oil
    * one hand-full of each vegetable would do

Blanch bean sprouts and spinach, seasoned with salt, garlic and sesame oil. Julienne carrots, chop eggplant, slice mushrooms and ball water crest. Sauté each vegetable separately in oil, seasoning to taste with salt. Fry on large egg. Place steamed rice in center of metallic bowl. Arrange vegetables around ball of rice. Place water crest and fried egg on top of rice ball.

Upon serving, add a lot of Korean chili pepper paste mixed with some honey and mix completely.

Dish #3: Eggplant In Phyllo
Cook: Corn (YuMi)

Ingredients:

1. 1 large eggplant
2. 2 cups chopped chicken breast
3. phyllo dough
4. butter
5. 4 green chilies
6. ¼ cup minced glove cloves

Sauté chopped eggplant and chilies with garlic in butter until brown. Season to your liking with a plethora of seasoning as so desired. Once cooked, set aside and let cool. In another pan, sauté chicken in butter. Season to liking. Set aside and let cool.

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Prep phyllo dough (which should have been thawed for at least 24 hours before cooking-night started…ah well). Lay 2 sheets of phyllo on flat surface and butter surface. Add eggplant and chicken followed by 2 more layers of phyllo, then butter. Continue until phyllo or eggplant/chicken mixture is finished. Fold over each side and flip. Coat the outside with butter. Bake for 20 minutes or until brown.

Dish #4: Green Curry with Eggplant (try cooking at your own risk)
Cook: Miss Cook

Ingredients:

1. 2 chicken breast halves
2. 1 large eggplant
3. 1 chopped onion
4. 1 lemon grass stalk
5. 1 tsp. minced cloves of garlic
6. 7 basil leaves
7. 3 tbsp. green curry paste
8. 1 can unsweeted thai coconut milk

Brown chicken in pat of butter. Add eggplant and cook until brown. In a separate pan, heat pat of butter. Cook and stir onions and garlic until tender. Add Thai coconut milk and mix in green curry paste. Add salt, pepper and chopped lemon grass. Cook for 5 minutes and pour over chicken and eggplant. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally until the coconut milk has thickened. Serve, topped with basil leaves.

Dish #5: Fried Eggplant Pie
Cook: Pancakes

用绞馅（猪肉或者牛肉），将葱姜蒜切成末，拌入肉馅中，加鸡精，酱油，香油调至口味合适；
水淀粉，打入1个鸡蛋，少量水，少量胡椒粉，调至粘稠糊状；
将整个茄子洗净，切成片状；
取两片，将少量肉馅塞入中间，轻微捏紧，刷水淀粉在茄夹外表面，再裹上面粉；
待油8分热，讲裹好面粉的茄夹放入，避免翻面过多导致肉馅外露。炸至金黄色拿出；
洒上胡椒粉和盐，趁热食用。
不管做什么菜都是，只要是做给你喜欢的人吃，心里都会很高兴，即使她什么忙都不帮，只是坐在一边看着你等着享用现成的饭菜，如果你真的喜欢她，你都不会计较。

Ingredients:

1. 1 large eggplant
2. 1 lbs. ground buffalo meat
3. soy sauce
4. 1 ginger root
5. 1 egg
¼ cup minced glove cloves

Brown buffalo meat with scallion, ginger and garlic  in oil. Season with salt and soy sauce. Remove from heat, set aside, let cool.

In a bowl, add starch, egg and water and scramble.

Wash and slice eggplant. Spread meat mixture over top of one eggplant slice. Cover mixture with another eggplant slice making a pie. Brush each pie with the egg wash and coat with flour. Fry each pie in oil with minimal moving of pies. Season to taste. Cook until golden brown.

Dish #6: Sheikh El Mihshi
Cook: Penny Picayune

Ingredients:

1. 6 purple eggplants
2. 1 lb. ground buffalo
3. ½ cup pine nuts
4. ½ cup finely minced carrot
5. 6 cloves minced garlic
6. 1 shallot
7. 1 stick butter
8. 6 tomatoes
9. 1 cup chicken stock
10. 3 bay leaves
11. 3 tbsp oregano
12. ¼ cup cream

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Remove stem from eggplant and remove skin from four sides. Make a 2 inch deep slit on one side of each eggplant. Rub eggplant with salt and let them sit for 30 minutes. Coat the surface of eggplant with butter. Bake eggplant in oven for 30 minutes or until brown.

Season buffalo meat to your liking. Sauté meat with pine nuts, carrots, garlic, and shallot in two pats of butter. Once meat is brown, remove from heat, transfer to bowl and set aside to cool.

In the same pot, melt the rest of the butter, add chicken stock and tomatoes. Cook on high heat for 1 hour seasoning with oregano and additional spices to your liking. Crush tomatoes thoroughly, add cream and bay leaves and simmer on low heat for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Stuff eggplant with meat mixture and transfer to oven safe dish. Pour tomato sauce over eggplant and add ½ water. Bake for 45 minutes.

Dish #7: Sweet & Sour Eggplant with Chicken
Cook: The Way

Ingredients:

1. 1 large eggplant
2. 2 chicken breast halves
3. 2 tomatoes
4. 4 minced cloves of garlic
5. ¼ cup sugar

Chop eggplant, chicken and tomatoes into large chunks. Sauté eggplant, chicken and garlic in oil until brown. Add tomatoes and simmer on medium heat until tomatoes break up. Add sugar (I like it sweet) and while cooking, season to liking. Tastes best with 啤酒…a lot of 啤酒 (ok, not so much…just enough).

Again, the pictures will get better! Wash Your Hands will make sure of it…hopefully. Next up, what was our cooking-night number 3. (Yes, Wash Your Hands will make sure of it, at least for cook off #4.) (And #5, 6 ,7…)