Thai eggplant

Not to be confused with Yellow-fruit nightshade, sometimes also referred to as "Thai eggplant".

Thai eggplant (Thai: มะเขือ, RTGS: makhuea) is the name for several varieties of eggplant used in Southeast Asian cuisines, most often of the eggplant species Solanum melongena.^[1] They are also cultivated in India and Sri Lanka and feature in Sri Lankan cuisine. These golf ball-sized eggplants are commonly used in Thai cuisine, Indonesian cuisine, and in Cambodian cuisine. Some cultivars in Thailand include Thai Purple, Thai Green, Thai Yellow, and Thai White.

Thai eggplants

Uses

Culinary

The green-white varieties of Thai eggplants are essential ingredients in Thai curry dishes such as in kaeng tai pla,^[2] green^[3] and red curry. They are often halved or quartered, but can also be used whole, and cooked in the curry sauce where they become softer and absorb the flavor of the sauce. They are also eaten raw in Thai salads or with Thai chili pastes (nam phrik).^[4][5][6]

Sometimes, in Thai restaurants outside of Thailand, Thai eggplants are replaced by locally available eggplants.

In Cambodian cuisine, they are often served raw with dipping sauce or cooked in stews.^[7] One of the most popular Cambodian steak sauces known as tuk prahok is made with the green-white variety^[8] (Khmer: ត្រប់ស្រួយ, romanized: trob sruoy).

In the Philippines, they are used in Ilocano cuisine, specifically in the dishes of pinakbet and dinengdeng. Boiled eggplant is frequently served with soy sauce and calamansi or dipping sauces made from bagoong, a fermented fish or shrimp paste.^[1][2]

Gallery

• 
  The flowers of the Thai eggplant
• 
  The fruit of the Thai eggplant. The white residue on the leaves is common.
• 
  A purple-white type of eggplant used in Thailand
• 
  Kaeng tai pla with Thai eggplants and bamboo shoots
• 
  The eggplants are often eaten raw in Thailand, for instance in som tam Lao
• 
  Phla nuea makhuea on is a Thai salad of medium rare beef and nearly raw sliced Thai eggplant
• 
  Yellow and white makhuea pro (Thai eggplant) in the background, fritters made from makhuea muang (purple eggplant) in the foreground, served with nam phrik kapi, a chili paste containing makhuea phuang (Thai pea-sized eggplants)

See also

• List of Thai ingredients
• Solanum torvum (RTGS: makhuea phuang) for the pea-sized eggplants used in Thai cuisine; sometimes substituted by green peas outside of Thailand^[9]
• Lao eggplant
• Vietnamese eggplant