Editor’s note: The theme of Gohan Lab is to help people make simple, tasty “gohan” (meals).

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The season of summer vegetables has arrived. The light taste of eggplants makes them great to enjoy in a variety of ways in different dishes. The vegetable is the focus of our next four-part series, starting this week.

One of its appeals is its fine color, known as “nasu-kon,” or eggplant-deep blue. But many of you may have noticed its color fading and turning brown while you cook one.

This week’s menu is a stir-fry of summer vegetables such as eggplant and paprika with chicken in which we'll turn to the power of oil to help retain the eggplant's color.

You can ensure the eggplant and paprika keep their colors by briefly sauteeing them beforehand in an extra amount of oil. Cooking them over high heat for a short time is essential.

When the temperature of the oil is high, the oil will drain off well and your ingredients won't become sticky. Paprika, which takes a long time to cook,  can also be stir-fried in advance with the eggplant.

Though it adds an extra step, cooking the eggplant with the other ingredients and simmering it with the seasonings also keeps its color from fading and the soft texture of the eggplant after has absorbed the oil is irresistible.

EGGPLANTS ALL YEAR ROUND

Eggplants grown in warm climates are among the leading summer vegetables, along with tomatoes and cucumbers, according to the Agriculture & Livestock Industries Corp. Yet, nowadays, the spread of greenhouse cultivation allows them to be shipped throughout the year.

Shipment times are divided into summer and fall eggplants grown outdoors (July through November) and winter and spring eggplants grown in greenhouses (December through June).

By prefecture, Gunma, Ibaraki and Tochigi were the top three shippers of summer and fall eggplants produced in 2020, according to a study by the agriculture ministry, showing that the vegetable is grown near large cities.

On the other hand, winter and spring eggplants are shipped mainly from warm areas. Kochi, Kumamoto and Fukuoka prefectures accounted for about 70 percent of all shipments.

BASIC COOKING METHOD

(Supervised by Katsuhiko Yoshida in the cooking aspect and Midori Kasai in the cookery science aspect)

* Ingredients (Serve two)

2 eggplants, 2 okras, 1 myoga, 1/4 paprika, 15 grams ginger, 1/2 chicken thigh, Base seasoning for chicken (black pepper, sake, soy sauce, katakuriko starch), Seasoning (100 ml water, 2 Tbsp each of soy sauce and sake, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1/2 tsp doubanjiang), cooking oil

About 430 kcal and 3.5 grams salt per portion

1. Peel eggplant with peeler in strips and cut up randomly (PHOTO A). Cut paprika randomly as well. Cut okra in half at an angle. Quarter myoga lengthwise. Chop ginger.

2. Cut chicken into dice 2 cm on a side, place in bowl, add bit of black pepper, 1 tsp sake, 2 tsp soy sauce and rub in lightly. Add 1 tsp katakuriko starch and mix.

3. Pour oil in frying pan. It should be about 1 cm deep in frying pan 24 cm in diameter. Place on high heat and when oil becomes hot and the surface starts to sway, add eggplant and paprika. Oil temperature should be above 180 degrees. Stir-fry for a little less than 1 minute while mixing with turner (PHOTO B). Place metal sieve in metal bowl and remove eggplant and paprika with oil (PHOTO C).

4. Cook chicken in pan. When it changes color, add ginger, okra, myoga and cook further. Add seasonings and mix thoroughly. Return eggplant and paprika and simmer for about 1 minute.

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Katsuhiko Yoshida is the owner chef of Jeeten, a restaurant in Tokyo’s Yoyogi Uehara offering Chinese home cooking.
Midori Kasai is a professor at Ochanomizu University and former chairwoman of the Japan Society of Cookery Science.

ARRANGED VERSION

"Somen" noodles mixed with eggplant and chicken (Serves two)
Cook stir-fry of eggplant and chicken and cool. Chop them coarsely and place in bowl. Boil 2 bunches (100 grams in total) somen noodles as instructed, remove and immerse in water and drain well. Add 2 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil to chopped stir-fry and mix well and blend with somen.

COOKERY SCIENCE

The purple color of eggplants is derived from a water-soluble anthocyanin pigment called nasunin. The skin, covered in a waxy layer, is glossy. When the eggplant is added to miso soup or simmered by itself, part of the pigment tends to dissolve and the color fades. When the surface is coated by frying in oil beforehand, for instance, the fading can be prevented during the cooking process that follows.

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From The Asahi Shimbun’s Gohan Lab column