I Need a Wok

Tonight I made Thai Spicy Eggplant for dinner. It was a recipe I had found in the June 2004 issue of Vegetarian Times magazine, adapted from Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Veggie Meals.

The recipe called for 3 baby eggplants, which was a problem. I do the vast majority of my grocery shopping at a discount superstore chain, and I could only find regularly-sized eggplant. Matter of fact, I've never even heard of baby eggplant. So I substituted 1 large eggplant. Moreover, I used fresh basil from my own garden (though I should have rinsed off the dirt first, alas). And since I didn't have any dark brown sugar, I used light brown (worked fine).

The meal came out very well, and even the meat-eating husband approved. The 16-month old baby LOVED it. Very spicy, yet simple. I don't have a wok, although I want one very badly, so I used a cast-iron skillet for the stir-frying. It worked fine, I suppose, but didn't seem quite authentic enough.

I haven't cooked eggplant before, and the texture (rubbery) seemed a bit odd to me, a little like steamed apples. Next time, I will use 1/2 the amount of eggplant, and substitute acorn squash for the other 1/2.