How to Trim Eggplant
Eggplants perish quickly and require cutting only before you plan to cook them. Eggplant browns after you cut it, but the addition of lemon juice helps keep it uniform in color. Before you cut an eggplant, you need to decide which cut works best for the dish you're preparing. Slicing an eggplant into round pieces works well for an eggplant Parmesan dish; cubed eggplant is ideal for stir-fries; and eggplant sliced lengthwise is best when grilling. Eggplants are low in calories and fat, which makes them a healthy addition to a diet. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
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Round Slices
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1
Rinse the eggplant under cool running water. Dry it off with a paper towel.
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2
Cut off the ends of the eggplant.
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3
Peel the eggplant with a vegetable peeler to remove the skin.
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4
Slice off any eyes or buds on the eggplant. Discard these sections.
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5
Lay the eggplant flat on a cutting board. Slice it into quarter-inch-round slices.
Cubes or Chunks
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6
Cut the stem off the eggplant. Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise on a cutting board.
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7
Slice around the outside of the eggplant but avoid cutting all the way through the skin. Use a sharp knife to cut a quarter of an inch next to the skin all the way around the flesh.
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8
Create a crisscross pattern on the flesh of the eggplant but do not cut all the way through the skin. Press the sharp knife into the flesh of the eggplant and create diagonal lines that are half an inch apart. Create diagonal lines that run the opposite direction with the sharp knife and space them half an inch apart as well.
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9
Lift the eggplant cubes out of the halves with the tip of your knife. Brush the eggplant cubes with lemon juice to prevent them from discoloring due to the exposure to oxygen.
Lengthwise Sections
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10
Rinse the eggplant under cool running water and dry it with paper towels.
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11
Peel the eggplant to remove the skin. Remove any eyes or bad spots from the eggplant.
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12
Slice the eggplant into lengthwise sections that are three-quarters of an inch thick.
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13
Brush the sections with lemon juice to reduce browning.
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1
References
- Photo Credit Polka Dot Images/Polka Dot/Getty Images
