[Mdae]

i absolutely love fried eggplant. i know, i know... fried=way bad. peter pan squash (the little green flying-saucer shaped ones) are also wonderful this way. anyway, on to the actual question...

roughly how many points would a whole eggplant be prepared as follows (and i mean the nice plump kind, not the scrawny little japanese ones):

i slice it into rounds about 1/2 inch thick, dip it in egg (though eggbeaters/egg starts would work fine) and then flour and fry in a pretty significant amount of oil (canola, or olive if that matters), salt/pepper. (i could eat nearly two like this myself in fat-girl mode)

i really have no clue... i can guess how many eggs i might've used, but measuring the flour and actual absorbed oil is much harder. now, i realize that the number of points is likely ridiculous, which is fine, but since it's a favorite i was kinda curious... and my mom makes this all the time too, so if i were at her place and she happened to have a heaping plateful, i'd like to know exactly how horrifying a slice or two might be.

second part of my question... any ideas for modifying it to make it a bit... less taboo?

[kaplods]

I can't help with the calculation, and it isn't a modification perse, but I have a wonderful (I think) way to make eggplant.

I have never had success with the italian eggplant at home. Even leaching it with salt, and rinsing it, the flavor has been so bitter, it was inedible. At a farmer's market I found japanese eggplant (about the size and shape of small zucchini, or a large banana, sometimes curved, sometimes not and colors ranging from white, pink, fuschia, and purple and sometimes one of these colors striped with white). I was wondering out loud to my husband if they were as bitter as the large italian eggplant, and the tiny Hmong lady selling them, thrust three in my hand saying "you take, you like." In her broken english, she told me to stir fry them and that they were so mild, not bitter, that they could be eaten raw (which I never tried, and don't plan on). They are great stir fried, but I usually roast them. I cut them into chunks or thick slices and put them in a ziploc bag with 1 or 2 tsp of oil (usually canola, sometimes olive) I zip the bag shut and shake like mad to distribute the oil. Then put in seasonings, zip and shake again and pour into a baking dish, and bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes or so (I start checking at about 15) and pull them out when they're mushy soft in the center, with brown carmelized edges. Yummy.

As for seasonings, my favorite (and easiest) is packaged ranch dressing mix powder, but I mix it up. I roast all sorts of veggies this way from potatoes to green beans. Potatoes I usually roast at 425.

We go to an overstock store that gives away items with a $10 purchase, and the give away bin is usually full of salad dressings, marinades, and seasoning packets (ranging from meatloaf seasonings, to seasonings for ethnic dishes).
I've used these seasoning packets instead of the ranch dressing mix. Since the store gives them away or sells them for .19 instead of the $1.00 - $3.00 in the grocery store, I've accumulated a shelf full of salad dressings, marinades, and seasoning packets. The salad dressings and marinades I use as marinades for meat, and I use the seasoning packets for the roasted veggies. Last week I used a packet for "satay chicken" and instead of using the mix on chicken, I threw it in the zipbag with oil and potatoes. It was really good, but I think the seasoning would be even better on eggplant or other soft veggies.

I know that's a long story, but I've never had a bad experiment yet, and it's a very easy way to cook, when you're short on time. Marinate meat and grill, roast, or crockpot, and Shake and bake veggies.

[Kelly_S]

In reality if you fry it quickly it doesn't absorb a lot of oil. Really it doesn't I have tested it by measuring before and after using my deep fat fryer and I don't use that much oil

second part of my question... any ideas for modifying it to make it a bit... less taboo?

I answered this with your other questions.

Also remember using the canola oil or olive oil you get in some of your healthy fats and once you figure out how much oil you are using you will know how many check marks you get to mark off.

[TRowe]

This is a variation that might work. I do it on potatoes to make french fries all the time. Use egg white to coat the eggplant and then lightly flour them. Put them on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with Pam cooking spray and then spray the egg plant liberally with the pam cooking spray and bake until crispy. It works great on fries and you save a ton of points on all the oil. Try it on a small batch and see how it works. You could also use the same method as above and pan fry them in the cooking spray.
Good Luck,
Tiffanie