Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Turkishish Eggplant Stew

My mom and little brother went to Turkey recently and returning, they raved about the eggplant dishes. They are now on an eggplant-fix and constantly cooking with it. Being away from home as I am, I googled some Turkish recipes with eggplant and found this lovely stew on an interesting website. Similar to ratatouille, this hearty stew was flavorful for being vegetarian and great on its own for dinner.
Prepare:
-Peel one large eggplant. Cut into large slices, salt, and store in the fridge for 20min-several hours - this is to excise the bitterness. You don't have to do it, I think, with the long thin eggplants, but I'm not sure
-Chop 1 large onion
-Crush several cloves of garlic, the more the better-Chop 1 zucchini, 1 potato, and some hot peppers-Open a can of diced or peeled tomatoes
-Ready either 2 tbsp tomato paste or pepper paste (I used Korean hot pepper paste)
-1/3 cup stock
-salt, pepper, other spices such as cumin, turmeric, Moroccan seasoning, etc
-Chop some fresh parsley (optional)
Cook:
-In a large wok, medium heat, lightly fry garlic, onion, and eggplant in olive oil for about 15 minutes-Mix in the paste until it's all the way through-Add the remaining ingredients (except the parsley), turn to low heat and simmer for about 45 minutes (until potatoes are thoroughly cooked), stirring every 10 minutes or so and making sure you crush and tomato pieces-Add seasonings to taste, garnish with fresh parsley
Tips:
-I thought this was nice, but a bit bland with the original ingredients, which is why I added those other seasonings (cumin, hot pepper, etc) . In the future, I think I might even add more garlic, just to ensure that loveliness
-I think pumpkin, added at the same time as potato, would be an excellent addition, as would sweet potato
-Grated Parmesan would also work well with this dish
-Eat with nice flat bread or some rice

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

hey there! after looking for ages about different veg eggplant recipes, yours was the clearest to follow and unintimidating, and as i'm not too expreienced with cooking, i really did appreciate that.
cheers!