You pass by it every time you walk through the produce section of your local grocery store. You avert your gaze from its odd, purple curves at the farmer's market. You can't even wrap your mind around the implications of its seemingly nonsensical name: Eggplant. Perhaps you once attempted to incorporate it into a meal back in your more ambitious days as an amateur cook and things... things got ugly. It's true that eggplant is a bit of an esoteric fruit and there's a lot that goes into cooking it properly, but once you have the initiative and the know-how, it can be a stunning addition to anyone's at-home culinary repertoire.
The big secret of preparing eggplant properly is controlling moisture. Eggplant, on its own, is like a sponge encased in rubber. It likes to hold a lot of moisture in, doesn't like to push any of it out and relies on a fragile interior to retain its structural integrity. This means that there are a lot of ways to ruin eggplant if you don't know how to coax the flow of material in and out of it.
The first step to prepping your eggplant for whatever application of heat you've chosen is to peel it. Unlike a lot of vegetables, eggplant doesn't benefit from a full peel. It's important to keep strips of the tough skin intact to keep the pieces from falling apart in the cooking process. Think "tiger stripes" for your eggplant. Peel away the majority of the skin while leave one-inch strips going long-ways down the fruit. This will allow each of the pieces, whether sliced or cubed, to hold up as the movement of moisture and the breakdown of structural materials under heat gives the flesh of the eggplant that distinctly mushy texture.
The next step in moisture control is pulling some of the water out of the raw fruit. Do this by arranging a thin layer of slices or cubes in a colander suspended over a bowl, sprinkling it with salt, then leaving it to chill for at least two hours. The salt will gradually coax the eggplant's own moisture to the surface and into the bowl, allowing the pieces of fruit themselves to prime for the introduction of more flavorful moisture.
No matter how you cook your eggplant, it'll want to soak up new liquid quickly. Whatever it shares the pan with will influence the final flavor of the eggplant, so be considerate about the pan drippings and sauces you're considering for the dish. A nice mix of garlic, onion, fresh tomato, zucchini and wine make for an excellent eggplant saute, just be aware that your pan will be crowded in the early going before the various components reduce.
You'll have to keep your eye on the pan and test the eggplant frequently, giving it the occasionally stir to make sure it cooks evenly. Unlike a lot of vegetables, eggplant is best when mushy, so give it longer than you think you should. Firm eggplant can be unpleasantly springy and quite bitter, so a long stay in the pan is necessary to bring it to that unique state of yielding, flavorful creaminess.
Eggplant is a nice addition to any diet, as it can fill the role of meat in a lot of dishes without bringing nearly as much fat and char to the party. Like a lot of firm fruits it's a good source of antioxidants and it's fairly heart-healthy, meaning that it's good for those who keep an eye on their cholesterol. It's low in carbs and sugar, has negligible fat content and is a source of potassium. It may take a little extra work and some special techniques to shape eggplant into something edible, but it's such a unique and versatile plant that every budding cook should know how to handle it.