You can tell the sex of an eggplant by looking at the indent on the bottom. A dash-shaped slit indicates a female eggplant. A deep, round indent indicates a male. The male eggplant have fewer seeds which yields a less bitter cooked product.

Start by cutting both ends from the eggplant. Stand it on end. Depending on the size of your eggplant, pre-calculate how many equal planks you want to get. You can even score the top to make sure each one is of equal thickness before cutting all the way through.

Cut the equal planks all the way through.

Continue slicing until you have multiple equally thick pieces.

Cut each plank into long, thick strips.

Cut each of the strips into equal-sized cubes.

For quick chopping, stack two planks together and cut all of the strips.

Then just go back the other way over the whole plank to form the cubes.

Place all of the cubed eggplant into a colander in the sink or over a shallow bowl. Season liberally with salt.

Weigh the eggplant down with a heavy dish and leave it to drain for 30-45 minutes. This will leach out the bitterness. It also extracts extra moisture so that when it is sauteed, minimal oil can be used. Before the eggplant is to be cooked, knock off the excess salt with a paper towel.