A Delicious Aubergine Meze





How do you feel about aubergines?  Look at this, bubbling away, looking great, smelling great.

I don’t think my dad ever really enjoyed them, he didn’t like garlic either, but then it wasn’t his fault as they were certainly not a feature of pre-war Britain’s cuisine, let alone Grandma Beatrice’s kitchen! Probably his first encounter with aubergine was in ratatouille which my French mother occasionally made. And then there was moussaka – remember that? Rather greasy, I always thought.  But onions, garlic, tomatoes, all the vegetables that I have come to embrace, were not where my dad’s gastro inclinations lay by nature, strict meat and two veg man that he was. Cooking has come such a long way since those days and for me, living in Turkey has opened up a huge range of possibilities with vegetables and aubergines definitely provide a focus. There are literally hundreds of recipes for them in various forms, hot and cold, and I love them all, providing not too much oil is involved.

This recipe, ekşili patlıcan, taken from Secrets of the Turkish Kitchen is for a meze, the concept we are all now familiar with: small appetizers set on the table at the same time before the main course, and an excuse to drink rakı, the delicious aniseed-flavoured local drink.  I suggest you include it as a side dish along with whatever you’re having as a main. If you glance through the ingredients, you will see all the familiar veggies that characterise so many Mediterranean dishes, not only Turkish. Aubergines are in reality a summer vegetable but they are still available, just a little bit more expensive. Ekşili literally means sour, which does not sound very appealing, but what it actually means is cooked with lemon juice.

                                                          Ingredients

Serves 4 – 6

4 long aubergines

2 onions, thinly sliced

3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

6 cloves garlic, crushed in salt

½ cup olive oil

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Chopped parsley for garnish

getting things ready: the tomatoes will be covered with boiling water

keeping only the red parts of the tomatoes and removing the white

Method

1.       Remove the stems and peel the aubergines in alternate vertical stripes. Cut into bite-size chunks and place in a bowl of salted water for 30 minutes.

2.       Drain the aubergines and squeeze dry in a towel. Place in a pan with the other ingredients. Cover and cook over a low heat until the aubergines are tender, most of the liquid has been absorbed and the sauce is rich.

3.       Set aside to cool and serve garnished with a sprinkling of chopped parsley.

ekşili patlıcan: serve at room temperature

                                                                  Tip

• Usually aubergines are a beautiful, dark, vibrant purple but there are other varieties, particularly in the countryside, which are pale and marbled. So the clue to choosing good ones is making sure they are smooth and shiny on the outside, as well as being firm to the touch.

They belong to the nightshade family and have a naturally occurring enzyme that can leave a bitter aftertaste in some dishes. Luckily, it is easy to ‘sweat’ them by salting which accomplishes two goals:

a) It pulls out the juices that carry bitter flavours and
b) Collapses the air pockets in the aubergines’ sponge-like flesh, thus preventing them from absorbing too much oil.

• Sprinkle slices or chunks of the aubergine with salt and let sit for  30 mins  - 1 hour. Incidentally, I notice that all the River House Cafe recipes recommend 1 hour as well as putting a plate on top with a heavy weight to push down on the slices.  Rinse the salt off with cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper. The drier they are, the less greasy the final result will be.

Personally I have found that the bitterness has become much less pronounced over the years but I would certainly advocate salting for any dish which requires frying in oil first as the amount of oil you use will definitely be less.

I also like peeling in stripes as in this recipe. The skin doesn’t become hard as it does when left whole.

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Here is an easy but delicious recipe for 6 from one of my favourite cookbooks, River Cafe Cook Book Green:  Take 4 large aubergines and slice into 1.5cm discs. Salt them as described above. Place close together on a foil-lined oven tray that you have lightly brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and some oregano/kekik, coriander seeds/kişniş tohumu roughly ground, and chopped garlic/sarmısak, and put in a pre-heated oven (200C/400F/Gas 6). Brush the tops of the slices with olive oil and scatter with more oregano, coriander, and garlic. Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. Turn the slices over when lightly browned, return to the oven and continue cooking for a few more minutes.

Serve on a bed of rocket /roka leaves. Drizzle with lemon juice and a little of your finest olive oil.

I like the sound of that!