When I was a child, I often heard adults say, "The eggplants in Yunnan are so black", which should have a derogatory meaning.

Eggplant is a delicacy on our dining table. Eggplants are planted in my garden every year. During the harvest season, we can’t eat them all. Many of them are cooked for the pigs.

There are three ways to cook eggplant in our family.

The first way to eat it is to cut the eggplant into shreds, sprinkle with salt, squeeze out the water with your hands, drizzle with vegetable oil, and you have a delicious cold eggplant dish. It's simple to make, just oil and salt, no other condiments are needed.

The second way to eat eggplant is to cut the eggplant into slices, cut a few two-pound pepper strips, and stir-fry them together. The delicious pepper-fried eggplant is ready.

The third way to eat eggplant is to cut the eggplant into pieces and fry it in oil first. Eggplant eats oil very much. At the beginning, it will be dry. After a while, the eggplant will absorb the oil when it is just removed from the pot. The oil slowly spits out again, wait until the eggplant spits out oil, and heat the pot. At this time, add oil to the pot, add watercress, ginger and garlic and stir-fry until fragrant. Add the fried eggplant just now, then add salt, and finally sprinkle Add the chopped green onion and put it on the plate. The eggplant made in this way is soft and glutinous, full of aroma of seasonings, and is a good side dish.

In my memory, I don’t often eat eggplant cut into shreds and served cold. The eggplant made in this way is crispy and fragrant. If the eggplant is older, chewy, and tooth-consuming, older people may not be able to chew it properly, and may not digest it well in the stomach. Slicing eggplant and frying it is not a common way to eat it. Our family’s favorite way to eat eggplant is the third method, which I call the “braised” method. Every time I cook it this way, I’m thinking, these kinds of condiments are really amazing, paired with soft Rotten eggplants are a great addition to meals. I do this often and the whole family loves to eat it.

When I was a child, I heard from my grandfather that eggplants are poisonous. Eating eggplants in summer is poisonous, and eating radishes in winter is good for detoxification. It reminds us not to be greedy for too much, but also to pay attention to a balanced diet, eat everything, and don’t overdo anything.

There is another way to eat eggplant in Chongqing, which we have never seen in our hometown. It is to steam the eggplant, cool it or dip it in water. This way of eating is acceptable. Some steamed eggplants are served cold with roasted peppers, which is also delicious. But I prefer three ways to eat eggplant at home, especially the taste of braised eggplant.