Going Global with Eggplant

By Lori Powell
For One or Two Bites, a blog for singles and couples

Eggplant season is here and one of my all-time comfort food dishes is Eggplant Parmesan. I just love the creamy texture, when eggplant is cooked right, and how it pairs so beautifully with so many other flavors. Eggplant acts a flavor sponge while maintaining its own distinctive taste.

Eggplant’s origins go back to the 5th century in China and it found further popularity in Mediterranean Europe, around the 15th century. I have used them in classic dishes such as moussaka from Greece, Asian stir-fry, Indian rice dishes such as biryani, and ratatouille from France.

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A Quick Chinese Meal

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

One of the first Chinese dishes I learned to cook was Ma Po Tofu. I was introduced to this recipe by my sister Judy, newly married to a young scientist from Taiwan and living in Berkeley, California.

Through the years, I’ve stripped down the recipe so it doesn’t require a trip to Chinatown for any special ingredients, making this dish a good dinner choice when you’re time-pressed and don’t know what to cook. You should be able to bring this dish to the table in about 20 minutes.

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Quick and Tasty Tofu

By Sandy Hu
The latest from Inside Special Fork

My friend Mary doesn’t like tofu. And I can understand why. I didn’t like it much as a kid, either. It’s pretty bland and tasteless. If umami expresses the savory quality in foods, tofu is the exact opposite, representing almost the absence of taste.

But hey, I’m not knocking tofu because I’ve really learned to like it. I like the silky type, mashed up with soy sauce and mixed with hot rice and a healthy sprinkling of sliced green onion. I like diced tofu in salad bars. And I like Sun-Dried Tomato and Walnuts Tossed with Penne, which, by the way, completely disguises the tofu “taste.”

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