I made this recipe the other night: https://thewoksoflife.com/mapo-eggplant/

I'm always looking for eggplant recipes that are good and this one is. It was a big hit with the guys; even with my son, who hates eggplant and only eats junk food. I didn't have the ground pork listed in the ingredients, but I did have some pork pieces that I minced very fine. It gave a nice texture to the dish. Watch the spice in this recipe. I only put a couple of drops of chili oil in it and could taste the heat. I went light with the spiciness and put the jar of chili oil out for anyone that wanted it hotter.

I'm always looking for recipes to use eggplant. Unfortunately this one isn't going to work as both my husband and I are lightweights when it comes to heat in our meals.

The best eggplant I ever tasted was when we were in Paris and stumbled upon a falafel shop. There was a long line up so we figured the good would be good . It was awesome. Our falafel had chunks of eggplant that was crispy and caramelized on the outside and creamy inside. I haven't figured out how to replicate it. I suspect a deep fryer may have been involved.

I love how diverse your menu is, Tropit. Keep sharing, please.

Thanks, JanieW,

Oh...well...Paris...everything tastes good there. That dish sounds wonderful. I'm going to have to do some research and see if I can find that recipe.

The Mapo eggplant would still be very good without the heat, so just omit it.

So, I was doing some research on eggplant falafels and a lot of different recipes came up in the search engine. Some fried them in oil, some baked them. I also saw a recipe for eggplant stuffed with falafel...that's different. I'm going to try one of the eggplant falafel recipes that uses the oven to bake them up nice and crispy. I'll let you know how it turns out.

The restaurant was called L'As du Fallafel. There is a website called whitskitchen.com that has tried fairly successfully to replicate the fallafel. For some reason I can't post the link. Hope this helps. Those falafels were to die for.

i make my own tahini sauce.

So, I tried the eggplant falafel recipe and it was delicious! The spices and herbs were perfect. You would never know that the eggplant was in there, aside from the slightly creamier interior. It used almond flour to hold it all together and there were no eggs in it. The recipe called for the falafel balls to be baked, which I did, and they were good. However, I think that next time, I'll try deep frying them. I hate frying, but I think it will give the falafels a crispier skin.

Here's the recipe:
https://shapedbysherri.com/eggplant-falafel/

Mapo tofu is a standard go to dish for me. Will have to try it with eggplant instead.