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Mushroom and Eggplant Yassa
![Mushroom and Eggplant Yassa](https://static01.nyt.com/images/2022/11/29/dining/yk-mushroom-yassa/yk-mushroom-yassa-articleLarge.jpg?width=1280&quality=75&auto=webp)
- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 6tablespoon neutral oil, such as grapeseed or canola, plus more as needed
- 1pound baby bella or button mushrooms, sliced
- Salt and black pepper
- 8thyme sprigs
- 2large yellow onions (about 1½ pounds total), thinly sliced
- 1Scotch bonnet chile
- 4garlic cloves, thinly sliced
- 1(2-inch) piece fresh ginger, scrubbed and grated
- 2fresh or dried bay leaves
- 1medium eggplant (about 1¼ pounds), trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 2cups vegetable stock
- 2limes
- 1tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2scallions, thinly sliced
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high. Working in 2 batches, add an even layer of the mushrooms to the hot oil. Season with salt and pepper and add 4 thyme sprigs. Sear, stirring, until lightly browned on both sides, about 4 minutes. Transfer the mushrooms to a plate and repeat with another tablespoon oil and the remaining mushrooms and thyme.
- Step 2
Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high. Add the onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and browned along the edges, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, stirring frequently, until caramelized, about 12 minutes.
- Step 3
Add the remaining 2 tablespoons oil to the skillet. Poke holes in the Scotch bonnet with the tip of a sharp knife and drop it in. Add the garlic, ginger and bay leaves. Stir and cook until the chile starts to soften, about 1 minute. Add the eggplant and season lightly with salt. Stir to coat with the onion mixture. Return the mushrooms to the pan along with any liquid that's collected on the plate. Add the vegetable stock and simmer over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the liquid is saucy, about 8 minutes.
- Step 4
Juice 1 lime and cut the other into wedges. Add the lime juice and mustard to the sauce. Stir and cook until the sauce is thickened, about 4 minutes. Stir in the scallions and cook for an additional minute. Taste and adjust with more salt or lime juice if desired. Serve the warm yassa over steamed rice, fonio or millet, along with the lime wedges for squeezing.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
I have found that cubing eggplant and placing in a lightly oiled cast iron pan in preheated oven after a light sprinkle of salt & roasting 10 - 15 min. w'a least one 'flipping' softens it w'out excessive oiliness as happens in this more conventional way. Have done numerous dishes similar to this w'great success this way!
12 minutes to carameliza onions? Not in my experience, especially at medium. I’d allow at least 30 minutes.
Hi Brenda, it sounds like you and your family are chile-sensitive so I would start with jalapeño, deveined and deseeded. The next step up might be Serrano, also deveined and deseeded. I remove the seeds and pith from all of my chiles. They add extra heat and no extra flavor. If you want your dish to be spicier, either use more chile or a different chile. Hope this helps.
03/20/2023 - Better than expected--a keeper. Started onions with bay leaves, then roasted mushrooms and unpeeled garlic cloves at 425 til mushrooms gave up liquid; added eggplant to absorb mushroom liquid and roasted all (~30 min. total). Peeled and mashed roasted garlic into onions and added ginger and thyme. Used only ~1 c. veg broth (Better Than Bouillon). Added mushroom mix to onions and finished with lime juice, mustard, and scallions as in recipe.
With basic ingredients that are so healthy, how can one add so much unhealthy fat and salt? I start my eggplant cubes in the microwave, then add them to whatever dish I am making, so neither salt nor much oil is required. Mushrooms and onions do well with minimum oil on very low heat too. Great flavor doesn't require loads of oil or salt. Flavor shines with moderation.
I looked up Scotch bonnet chile and it would be too hot for us. What would be a suitable substitute?
This was excellent. I couldn't find a Scotch bonnet, but a habanero worked as a substitute. And the leftovers made for a delicious work lunch a few days later. I may try adding some toasted cashews for texture next time. Only problem is that this is one of those "pile 2 skillets' worth of veggies into your skillet" recipes. Be prepared to lose some eggplant cubes during stirring until they all start to cook down a bit.
This recipe has incredible depth of flavor. I cooked it longer until almost all liquid was evaporated. The next day, I put the leftovers on toast for breakfast. YUM!
This is delicious and perfect for cold rainy evening meal. I did worry that the eggplant would not be tender, so I cut half inch slices and put them in the microwave with a wet paper towel for 6 minutes. I then sectioned them in cubes. Liked by all.
Flavorful and easy to prepare. Added a tsp of coconut sugar to balance the sour. Served with white rice.
This was indeed tasty. I just felt a note was missing. A friend searched for Yassa and learned that fermented locust bean powder was a key umami ingredient. Who knew? Also, I would shy away from red onions and stick with the yellow. I cut the eggplant into half-inch cubes instead let the dish simmer longer to ensure they cooked. It will be even better the next day I believe.
Added sliced carrots and chick peas to make as a standalone stew. No limes so substituted lemon. Delish.
Often have this issue w'husband. Found a smallish (3-5") banana yellow chili @ Farmer's Market this past year, mostly straight sided w'last 1/2 making a sharp tip. Have no idea name but a very 'bright' rather than HOT flavor that was perfect. Keep an eye out I think you will be impressed also!
Recommend adding some umani with the garlic and ginger. I added chili’s mushroom Laht sauce. I also pre-roasted the eggplant 10 min at 400 after salting and drying the cubes for 1 hour.
Also, I already had maitake and shiitake mushrooms, so used those instead of buttons. Fantastic!
Meh. I'm not a fan of ratatouille. I may have overcooked it because it was very mushy.
Fantastic recipe. I didn’t have it over rice or pasta (which probably would be good), served as a side dish.
Lots of cutting, lots of slicing but the result is pretty bland. It gets very salty if you add all the recommended pinches of salt everywhere in the recipe. I will not make it again.
Caramelized onions in two skillets at the same time because the sheer volume overcrowded one. I researched substitutes for scotch bonnet chile and a website for a chili grower suggested the best flavor/heat substitute would be lemon zest and cayenne pepper instead of jalapeno or others as suggested here. I pre-cooked the eggplant following suggestions from other readers. Tasty results. Added yoghurt and peanuts for crunch and protein.
I thought this was begging for a few generous glugs of red wine, which I added, and i cooked it longer at the end to finish the eggplant. Only had a large jalapeño, so added that instead of scotch bonnet, and forgot the mustard. We added white cheese on top (feta for him, cottage for me). Next time i will stick closer to the recipe, but we enjoyed it!
Oyster and maitaki mushrooms worked very well.
When it was time to add it, I realized I didn't have veggie stock. But I did have a basket of juicy, overripe tomatoes that I used instead. It may not have been authentic but we enjoyed it. I also served with some labneh to temper the heat & some lime zest to add color & brightness. This was a great dish.
Delicious outcome. A few tweaks I made: I roasted the eggplant cubes for 20 minutes at 400 degrees and with a bit of salt and olive oil before adding them to the mix. I also only halved my mushrooms for a chunkier texture. I Used dried chilies which meant that the outcome wasn’t hot enough to my taste, so I added a bit of sambal as well. I also didn’t bother with the batch thing when cooking the mushrooms, just did them all in one go.
Like the idea but bland
Lackluster. Very average.
Made this last night for 4 other adults (incl. my sister in law, an eggplant nut; I’ve never been a huge fan, but this was a game changer). Followed the recipe to the letter and it was so good. We gobbled it up while intermittently exclaiming, “this is *so* good.” The eggplant wasn’t cooked through in the time indicated by the recipe, so I put the lid on [I used a Hexclad 14” wok] for just a couple minutes at the end.
Had to sub a jalapeño for the Scotch bonnet. Served with rice quinoa blend cooked in coconut milk finished with a squeeze lime. Was YUM!
Coconut milk! Great idea, but didn’t clash with the Dijon? I mean, I’ll try it, lol, just curious if you did both.
Made from what I had which necessitated a few substitutions. Didn’t have vegetable broth, so mine had chicken broth. Didn’t have a Scotch bonnet but I did have a large , which I cut in half. The dish was delicious, hot and spicy. I had some leftover yogurt and mint sauce which nicely paired with this dish. My husband, who normally finds a way to add meat to every meal, loved this and went back for seconds. Yay! No leftovers.
Further to Karen NBvW’s great tip to reduce oiliness, I find placing cubed eggplant with a tablespoon of oil and a few tablespoons of water in a pan, and then place the lid and “steam” for 10-15 minutes, make them super soft and ready to added to whatever dish you make. It also avoids having to use half a 44 gallon drum of oil (or so it feels like) to cook them. :)
Made this today using Chinese eggplant, sliced into 1/2" rounds and a habanero instead of a Scotch bonnet. Delicious!
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