Eggplant

I love eggplant and find it odd that it's one of the more "controversial" vegetables. I've found people either love it or hate it.

roasted eggplant salad
Roasting a whole eggplant makes it creamy and soft without the added oil. I usually just pop the whole thing into a 400°F oven for 20-40 minutes, depending on the size of the eggplant. It's done when it's kind of collapsed on itself. The skin peels off easily and you can dice it and toss it with whatever vinaigrette/dressing you like. This variation is tossed with sesame oil, soy sauce, a litle sugar/mirin and finished off with sesame seeds, toasted of course.
[eggplant, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, sesame seeds, mixed greens]

variations on a theme

This is a variation on this.

beef with eggplant
Again, the eggplant is deep fried first, and then pan fried with the aromatics, beef, and sauce. I made this a little spicier than normal by accident.
[eggplant, beef, onions, garlic, ginger, chiles, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar]

ma-po eggplant

As more of the Curry House bounty, some sort of packaged ma-po tofu sauce was included. I thought I might as well try it out, and I had already prepped the eggplants, so I thought we might as well combine the two.

ma-po eggplant
Overall, the sauce was unoffensive, but it did have a weird consistency to it. It's definitely not as good as making your own sauce, and really, not that much more convenient. Let's say I wouldn't go out of my way to purchase it. But it's good enough in a pinch.
[eggplant, tofu, onions, garlic, ginger, oil, Curry House ma-po tofu sauce, mild]