Eggplant salad recipe

“Eggplant salad” may sound strange in English, but it is the exact translation of a very traditional mezze called melitzanosalata in Greek or patlican salatasi in Turkish. With few further ingredients, it can also turn into baba ganush or mutabbal, both very popular in many regions of the Middle East.

The only secret for this recipe is roasting or cooking over direct heat the eggplants and peppers (some people would even roast the onion and tomato). Alternatively, it is possible to bake the vegetables and get a very good result, but the smoky touch that makes a big difference in the final result will be missing.

The preparation:

Grill the eggplants and bell pepper (optionally also the whole onion and tomato) until they are tender and the skin is very crisp. Don’t worry if the skin burns, it will be even better, since we still have to peel the vegetables.

When they are done, reserve the peppers in a plastic bag. Peel them when they have cooled down, also discarding the seeds and interior veins. Reserve.

Cut off the tip of the eggplant and discard the skin. Mix the “meat” of the eggplants with that of the pepper and press them gently, in order to get rid of as much liquid as possible.

Chop everything finely with a knife on a board, ideally not using a mixer. Place all together in a bowl.

Peel the onion and tomato. Chop them and add them to the bowl.

Season with a whole pressed garlic clove, the juice of a small lemon, cumin, sumac and paprika in the amounts indicated above, as well as extra virgin olive oil, salt, black pepper and chili to taste.

Mix until integrated and when serving, garnish with pomegranate molasses and/or a little more extra virgin olive oil. Garnish with chopped parsley or mint leaves.

Tips and tricks:

1. It is advisable not to skip the step of getting rid of the liquid of the eggplant. In this way we discard the most bitter component of it and we also improve the final texture of the recipe.
2. Storing the roasted peppers in a container or plastic bag helps to peel them easily, as the residual steam will cause the skin to get separated very easily.
3. If we have roasted the tomato, the skin will also come off very easily. Otherwise, peel them after submerging them in boiling water for no more than a minute.