Description, detailed composition and calorie content of eggplants. Useful properties of this vegetable and harm. Contraindications to use, side effects and prescriptions for use. Important! You can talk about the benefits of eggplant only if you use them in moderation. These vegetables, especially fried in oil, are very heavy food for the stomach. Therefore, do not consume them on an empty stomach and in large quantities.
Harm and contraindications to the use of eggplant
A fresh vegetable can hardly harm your health, despite its bitterness. Only one that is stored for more than a week is dangerous, especially when cut. In this case, its pulp darkens and becomes tough. If you eat it, you may not be able to get poisoned, but you will definitely provide yourself with pain in the abdomen and nausea. This is due to the fact that the blue skin contains a very high percentage of solanine. The older they are, the higher it is. Therefore, it is better to clean them before use.
Despite all the useful properties, it is not recommended to use eggplant for the following problems:
- Gastritis … Here we are talking about absolutely all methods of cooking, canned, pickled and fried vegetables are especially harmful to health. Outside the exacerbation stage, steaming steamed ragout from fresh blue ones is allowed.
- Colitis … This is an inflammation of the walls of the rectum or colon. The juice and peel of the fruit irritate them even more, which can cause pain in the navel area. In the remission stage, you can steam the caviar, without the crust.
- Ulcer … Here the contraindication is very strict, because even fresh pulp can cause an aggravation. This is due to the fact that it contains a lot of solanine, which increases the acidity of the stomach. If it is already off scale, then severe abdominal pain may occur.
- Hypertension … Since eggplants are always well sprinkled with salt before use and left to be absorbed, they should not be consumed with increased pressure. In this case, water will remain in the body, which will only aggravate the situation. At a pressure below 150, it is allowed to cook blue ones without a peel, not salt, steamed or in the oven.
- Children under 3 years old … These vegetables are very difficult for a child whose body cannot digest such food quickly. As a result, he may experience belching, abdominal pain, colic and heartburn. Such problems are especially common after eating fried blue ones.
Eggplants are equally harmful both overripe and too young. In case of poisoning with them, there is a high risk of diarrhea, vomiting, nausea, fainting, convulsions, shortness of breath and intestinal colic. With such symptoms, you should immediately consult a doctor after drinking activated charcoal before. You should also immediately consume more than 0.7 liters of clean water.
Important! In order not to harm yourself, you need to choose only young vegetables with fresh skin. It should be firm enough, not soft. The fewer seeds they contain, the better. A good sign when the latter are not tough.
Eggplant recipes
Eggplants are widely used in the kitchen in various forms - fried, stewed, baked, boiled. They are harmoniously combined with almost any food, especially cheese, meat, mushrooms and various vegetables (onions, carrots, cabbage). Cooking them is quite simple and quick. With them, you can make very tasty first and second courses, side dishes. These vegetables are especially suitable for making marinades and preserving for the winter.
Eggplant recipes:
- Baking in the oven … Peel off 5 eggplants, wash them in warm water and pat dry on a waffle towel. Next, apply salt on them and rub it well. Leave the vegetables for 10 minutes so that they are sufficiently salted. After the specified time has elapsed, cut the blue ones into thin circles and fry in any vegetable oil on both sides. Do not leave them in the pan for a long time, as soon as they acquire a golden hue, remove from the stove. The next step is to break 3 eggs, separate the whites from the yolks and pour the last into a deep container. Next, beat them with a blender or whisk, add a little pepper and salt to your liking, and stir. Now pass 12 cloves of garlic through a meat grinder or a special crusher. Combine the resulting gruel with whipped yolk and put a thin layer on the prepared circles. Grind the eggplants on both sides with breadcrumbs and transfer to a greased baking sheet with vegetable oil. Send them to an oven preheated to 200 degrees and keep at this temperature for no more than 15 minutes.
- On the grill … Wash the eggplants and, without peeling, divide in half horizontally. Grind the resulting slices with salt and leave for 10 minutes to absorb it. Then put them on the wire rack and keep them over glowing coals (not on fire!) For 10-15 minutes. After that, season them with soy sauce - the dish is ready! You can also cook blue ones on skewers. They wear slices of vegetables dipped in mayonnaise and salted. Fry them for no longer than 10 minutes, until they become softer. They are served on the table with herbs (dill, lettuce, parsley).
- Quenching on the stove … The stew made from these vegetables is very tasty. To prepare it, wash and peel the eggplants (2-3 pcs.). Do the same with carrots (1), potatoes (2), paprika (1), garlic (2 wedges) and one head of sterling onion. Then cut all this into small pieces and lightly fry in a well-heated skillet in a large amount of corn oil. Next, put the mass in an enamel pan or pot, fill it with clean water, which will take enough to completely cover the gruel. Then add here homemade or store-bought tomato (3 tablespoons), salt and black pepper to your taste. Simmer all this for 25 minutes on low heat, covered. As a result, the gravy should be reduced, and it is important that it boils well.
- In a double boiler … Grind 6 eggplants without peel, garlic (3 cloves), tomatoes (2 pcs.) And one small bell pepper in a meat grinder. Season with salt, transfer to a bowl and add 0.5 cups of corn oil. Then select the "quenching" mode, after 10 minutes stir the mass and after 20 minutes. she will be ready. As a result, you will get very tasty caviar, which can be applied to bread or used as a side dish.
- Frying … To make 4 servings, you will need to cut 5 eggplants in half lengthways. Then salt and cross them, and after 10 minutes fry until a light golden crust forms. When the vegetables have cooled, cut 2 tomatoes into strips and place in wedges. Now grate hard cheese (150 g) and distribute it among all the blue ones. The final stage is folding the rolls, which are secured with a skewer threaded diagonally. For beauty, you can put a sprig of dill or parsley inside. Gently season the finished dish with sour cream.
- For cooking … It turns out quite tasty from eggplant and puree soup. To make sure of this for yourself, cut them without peel (2 pcs.), Parsley (bunch), 1 lemon (unpeeled). Pour all these ingredients with water (2 l) and cook for 15 minutes. Then remove them with a sieve and scroll in a meat grinder or beat with a blender. At the end, add homemade cream, 20 ml, black pepper and salt will be enough. For meat lovers, you can cook chicken broth soup. Then you will need 1-2 breasts, they will also need to be chopped in the end.
- Stuffed … For the filling, you will need cheese (200 g), onions (3 heads), minced chicken (100 g). Grate the first and second ingredients as finely as possible and combine with the last. Next, salt and pepper the mass. Now pour boiling water over 4 eggplants, remove most of the pulp from them, leaving even indentations. You will need to fill them with prepared gruel. Stuffed blue ones are sent to the oven for 20 minutes or stewed in tomato sauce. To prepare it, twist 3 tomatoes in a meat grinder, add boiled water (150 ml) and salt to taste.
- Pickled … Wash eggplants (10 pcs.), Pierce with a spoon and cut into cubes after 20 minutes. Fill them with water (about 3 liters) and boil over low heat. At this time, it is not allowed to interfere with them, otherwise they may fall apart. Next, carefully remove the vegetables with a sieve and cool. After that, put them in glass jars (0.5 l each), on the bottom of which 1 chopped garlic clove, black peppercorns (5-7 pcs.), Salt (1-2 pinches) and sugar (no more 1 tsp). Then combine the remaining gravy with 2 tbsp. l. vinegar and 0.5 cups of vegetable oil and stir the composition. You will need to fill them with a lot in jars, which at the end will need to be closed with plastic lids. You can eat this amazing dish already for 5-10 days. If you want it to come out with a rich taste, add some fried carrots.
Even with a rather long heat treatment, eggplant contraindications remain valid. It is also important that they do not lose their beneficial properties, unlike other vegetables. Therefore, you can safely stew them, boil, fry, etc.
For treatment, you can drink eggplant juice and lubricate wounds, abrasions and bruises with it.
Interesting facts about eggplant
These vegetables are well known as Armenian cucumbers, badrijan and dark-fruited nightshade. Despite the latter name, the cultivation of not only purple, but also white berries is widely practiced. It is believed that the latter are less toxic and have a less pronounced taste due to the low concentration of solanine. If the fruit is still very bitter, then before using it, it is recommended to hold this vegetable in salted water for about 20 minutes. Bitterness is inherent mainly in those eggplants that are grown outdoors, under the sun.
It is also important that these vegetables absorb a lot of oil, so if you want to save it, you need to fry them over low heat and only under the lid. It should also be said that although the eggplant is officially called a vegetable, it is not at all such. It is a full-bodied berry with seeds, just like strawberries or blueberries.
You should never start cooking blue ones until they are dry after washing. In this case, their taste will not be as pronounced. It is also not recommended to use them raw - the seeds contained in the fruits irritate the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestines. Freezing is a great idea. In such conditions, the blue ones can be stored for more than a year without losing their beneficial properties.
Given the undeniable benefits of eggplants, it is not for nothing that they are called the vegetable of longevity in the East. It is one of the main ingredients of the Arabs. Surprisingly, in ancient Egypt they were considered poisonous because of their bitterness. It even got to the point that the blue powder was added to the enemies in food and drinks.
How eggplant is eaten - watch the video:
Nobody says that you can't do without eggplants in the kitchen, but they allow you to significantly diversify it and replenish the volume of a number of substances that are missing in the body. This is especially important in winter, when there are so few fruits and vegetables in our diet! And all this despite the fact that it is quite easy and quick to cook blue ones, you just need to choose suitable recipes with eggplant and strictly follow all instructions.
