My Little Secret to Get a Preschooler to Eat Brinjal

~ Chinese & Japanese Fusion Flavours Brinjal, Cooked without Additional Water ~

Commonly known in South Asia as brinjal, it is also known as eggplant or aubergine in other parts of the world. Interestingly, brinjal is in fact a type of fruit rather than vegetables as I have always known since I was introduced to it. It is a type of fruit which I would consider it as “cooked-food to eat for fun” since it does not contain much of an essential nutrients. With more than 90% of its content being water, it may be good as a detoxification food to flush out impurities from the body without having to worry about the extra calories.

Brinjal is originally tasteless, with pulpy rinds and possibly bitter skin. As brinjal tends to pull whatever taste of the ingredients used to cook with it, the seasoning and ingredients used to cook them determines the taste of a brinjal dish. That explains why most brinjal recipes require longer cooking time with more oil and water to allow brinjal pieces to absorb all the flavours from the other ingredients.

As brinjal is a much-loved fruit of mine, I could not help but to buy them home when I saw huge and fat ones at the supermarket recently. As an Asian, grew up in the Cantonese & Hakka regions in the East Malaysia, I often relate brinjal to “Stuffed brinjal with fish paste”, which may require more preparation time. With cooking ideas challenged and limited time for preparation, I tried this recipe. It is simple yet nutritious.

In this recipe, I had the brinjal cooked without additional water for 5 minutes and with the temperature not exceeding 100°C in a Pan covered with my AMC Easy Quick Lid to optimise the nutrients content. The brinjal pieces turned out to have much of its colour retained and they are naturally delicious with little seasoning and garnishing.

It is usually a challenge to persuade my little girl to eat brinjal as she dislikes the mushy texture of brinjal cooked in many other recipes. Cooking these brinjal without additional water brings them to cook to a tender bite with the shape of each piece holds firmly, making them great to bite and tasty. This recipe is simply my solution to get my pre-schooler fussy eater at home to eat more of brinjals.

Chinese & Japanese Fusion Flavours Brinjal, Cooked without Additional Water Recipe (Serves 3 Adults OR 2 Adults & 2 Children) :-

2 large Brinjals, weighed 680grams (sliced slanted into 1cm thick)
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/2 teaspoon Sugar
100ml Water (to dissolve seasoning)
2 stalks Chinese Parsley, (chopped for garnishing)
2 tablespoons Crispy Seaweed Flakes (garnishing)
2 tablespoons Bonito Flakes (garnishing)

AMC Healthy Cooking Method :

Prepare brinjal and garnishes accordingly. Dissolve seasoning in water. Arrange the brinjal slices into the 24cm 2.0 litre Roasting Pan unit. Add dissolved seasoning into the Pan unit.
Cover Pan unit with an Easy Quick Lid. Switch on Navigenio to “A”. Turn on Audiotherm, place on lid knob, indicating 97°C or “Steam Window” and set for 5 minutes to super-steam.
As Audiotherm beeps, turn off Audiotherm and Navigenio. Garnish and serve hot.

Tips :

AMC Easy Quick Lid cuts down approximately 35-50% of the cooking time as compared to an AMC Classic Lid. As the heating up process is very fast with an Easy Quick Lid, it reduces the risk of losses by enzymatic processes.
Position the steam valve on the pot as far away from the body as possible and not towards the pot handles as hot steam would emerge.