This may sound like a strange combo of flavors, I thought so too. I knew I wanted to cook up the eggplant in the fridge and pickle some peppers before they went soft. Strangely enough they made great tacos! Yup, you know me, when in doubt put it in a taco shell. It was really tasty and great on texture.
Lets start with the peppers because they need to sit in their pickling juices. They should sit for 24 hours if possible and the longer they sit the better they get. Start by mixing up the pickling liquid.
Stir togehter the following:
1 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1 garlic clove, minced
Keep stirring the liquid until the salt and sugar are dissolved. Slice the peppers into rings, I used 3 banana peppers and 3 green bell peppers. Add them to the liquid and cover them to go in the fridge.
Now we can turn our attention to the crispy eggplant. Oh My Goodness these are good. Mix together 1/2 cup corn meal or bread crumbs, 1/2 cup almond meal, 1/2 cup crushed potato chips. What can go wrong with potato chips!
Then add the spices to the mixture…
1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon cumin, and 1/4 teaspoon chili powder. You can also see in the photo that I used three eggplant. Peel them and slice them about 1/4 inch thick.
Use three bowls to bread the eggplant. One bowl has flour (I used brown rice flour to keep them gluten free), one for 2 beaten eggs, one for the crumb mixture we mixed up. Go straight down the line shaking the excess off from each bowl. Place the breaded eggplant on a sheet lined with parchment paper (shown above in the background of the photo).
Place them in a preheated 400 degree oven for 20 minutes until the eggplant is crisp on the outside but tender and melt in your mouth on the inside.
Here are the final products:
Crispy and tender inside, absolutely a wonderful preparation for eggplant.
And here are the peppers, crisp and full of flavor. Delicious on our tacos but also for sandwiches or a crisp topping to float on a bowl of soup or tossed into a salad.
Our tacos tonight we’re really fun. Enjoy!
