Has anyone ever seen a sesame plant? What happens to sesame seeds when they grow up? Well I wikipedia'd it and apparently there IS a sesame plant. It's a flowering plant called Sesamum. I really hope that getting this information into my head didn't cause something more important to drop out....
Anyway, this past weekend, Boyfriend ordered and greatly enjoyed a Chinese eggplant dish from an Asian restaurant and we happened to come across the Chinese eggplants in a Russian grocery store, of all places.
So we came home with 2 of these and 2 regular eggplants. I had decided to make some sort of "improved" Chinese sesame sauce for these guys and the perfect day for it was Tuesday night. Yes, I realize it's now Thursday and I haven't blogged. This brings me to my next point.
I knew I was about to have a pretty bad Wednesday/Thursday/Friday at work (bad=busy) so I figured if I made the two eggplants and some rice, I could be set for dinner Tuesday and lunch on Wednesday and Thursday. A big part of the way I cook involves making dishes and meals that can translate into lunches and are easily packable.
I chopped up the two eggplants (cut each in half lengthwise then made these little half-circle slices that you see above) and left them in a bowl filled with heavily salted water for about 30 minutes. This gets rid of the bitterness. After 30 minutes I drained and rinsed the eggplant and threw in 2tbsp sesame oil (now I have the dark stuff, much more flavorful), a splash of soy sauce and a tbsp of sesame seeds (not necessary I think). I sauteed them in a nonstick pan (I did spray it down with some Pam) until they were brown and pretty soft. While the eggplant cooked I chopped 2 scallions and grated up this piece of ginger. Usually I use the powdered stuff but decided to go fresh this time. I had to chop off the "bark" on the outside before grating it though. Eh. Powder would have probably been fine.
In a small bowl I added 2 tbsp soy sauce, 1tbsp balsamic vinegar, maybe 1/3 cup chicken stock, 1tbsp agave nectar, 1 clove of garlic, grated.
After the eggplant cooked, I took it out of the pan and Pam'ed it again. Threw in the scallions and ginger for about 2 minutes then added the sauce and 2 tbsp sesame seeds. 2 minutes later, I threw in the eggplant and mixed everything together.
It came out looking like this, which looks VERY similar to the Chinese restaurant version but only requires 2 tbsp of oil and 2-3 tbsp soy sauce. The original recipes for this kind of thing called for at least 4 tbsp oil (sesame AND canola) as well as 1 tbsp white sugar and 1 tbsp honey. That's a LOT of calories I took out!
So I thought this would be 3 servings and I've still got one serving left, so I guess 4 is more accurate.
It came out looking like this, which looks VERY similar to the Chinese restaurant version but only requires 2 tbsp of oil and 2-3 tbsp soy sauce. The original recipes for this kind of thing called for at least 4 tbsp oil (sesame AND canola) as well as 1 tbsp white sugar and 1 tbsp honey. That's a LOT of calories I took out!
So I thought this would be 3 servings and I've still got one serving left, so I guess 4 is more accurate.
For dinner on Tuesday (and for lunch Wednesday/Thursday) I put the eggplant over some brown rice.
Ginger/Scallion Brown Rice Recipe
1 cup brown basmati rice (or any rice)
2.25 cups water and chicken stock (use whatever ratio you like)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1 small clove of grated garlic
1 chopped scallion
Grated ginger (I'm sure powder would work here too)
Ginger/Scallion Brown Rice Recipe
1 cup brown basmati rice (or any rice)
2.25 cups water and chicken stock (use whatever ratio you like)
Salt, pepper, garlic powder
1 small clove of grated garlic
1 chopped scallion
Grated ginger (I'm sure powder would work here too)
On a sad note, the weight situation is getting worse, not better so I've had to start logging calories into one of those food logger websites. I haven't really been very conscientious before when I have tried this but I'm sticking with it now. I've also gotten myself a somewhat cheap food scale so I'm really going to get on top of this.
Further, I'm going to be starting a pretty rough month at work on Monday so I fully expect the blogging to take a bit of a hit but I'll do the best I can since I'm trying to keep the readers I have and get more. Tomorrow I'm going to see a musical and go out with a good friend from high school. Hopefully not much damage will be done.
Further, I'm going to be starting a pretty rough month at work on Monday so I fully expect the blogging to take a bit of a hit but I'll do the best I can since I'm trying to keep the readers I have and get more. Tomorrow I'm going to see a musical and go out with a good friend from high school. Hopefully not much damage will be done.
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