Thai eggplant
Solanum melongena · Fruit vegetable
Top 10 pairings
The Thai eggplant (makhuea phuang in its tiniest form, makhuea pro for the larger ones) is the small, round, golf-ball-sized aubergine of Southeast Asian cooking, its hard skin mottled in pale green and creamy white. Unlike the soft, seed-shy purple eggplants of the West it is picked firm and crisp, dense with soft seeds, and carries a deliberate, refreshing bitterness, so it is eaten raw in quarters with chilli relishes or dropped whole into Thai green and red curries, where it stays crunchy and holds its shape rather than melting to custard.
Picking a good onedrag
Glossy, heavy, springs backDull, light, spongy
Shop firmEveryday bestThe all-rounder: roast, fry, stew, parmigiana.
CapCap green, edges drying back
SkinGlossy, a scuff or two
The pressDent fades as you watch
Smell at the capAlmost no smell at all
These cues are Eggplant's, and hold across its varieties; where this one differs, its own page says so.
What you get from one
97%
Edible part
548 g · cap and stem off
565 g
Weight each
each one
Keeping ittap a temperature
Below 10 °C it pits and its seeds brown; in a 5 °C fridge that takes about a week.
90–95%
Humidity
Loosely bagged
Airflow