While I usually recommend to save and reuse all of the flavor and vitamin-rich veggie juices, that are naturally squeezed out during pressure cooking, you can safely toss eggplant juice. Here’s why…
Eggplants have a tendency towards bitter, and require quite a bit of work to leach this bitter liquid out. In conventional cooking this liquid can only be coaxed out with salt, time and a squeeze. Instead, during pressure cooking this liquid is readily released by the eggplants into the cooker (and your recipe).
That’s why it’s ok to pour out this brown bitter liquid in a pressure cooker recipe or toss it after pressure steaming. If you’re not completely convinced, give this liquid a taste and decide if you want that flavor to dominate your veggie recipe or next risotto.
Your tip?
Leave a comment, below!
I never knew about this. Thanks for the info Laura.
Eggplant is called aubergine here in the UK. :)
For some reason I HATE salting and waiting for eggplant to rid itself of the bitter taste. Would it be possible to cube my eggplant and pressure cook it in my electric for 1 min with quick release, pour out the bitter liquid, and start over with the regular recipe using only 2 min to finish? What I mean is, would 1 min (with the necessary water) be enough to rid the eggplant of the bitterness?
Crossing fingers for a yes answer! Love your Eggplant and olive spread
Yes, no need to salt eggplant anymore! Put cubed eggplant in the steamer basket and pressure cook for a minute and open with Normal release. It might already be fully cooked so you may need to add it later your other recipe.
Ciao,
L
I slice and and salt my eggplant and put it in my Japanese pickle press to remove excess water and bitterness. I love the way it comes out and perfect for eggplant Parmesan that I don’t like too watery. Hubby will only eat eggplant this way. He used to hate it. : )
That’s interesting, IFortuna! So there is no waiting when using the pickle press?
Ciao,
L
Yes, there is waiting when using a pickle press. Just like doing it any other way, it takes time for the salted eggplant to release the liquid. However, it is a much easier process and I think it does the best job. I used to do this process with the eggplant on a plate and a heavy weight on top. : )