During summer months roasted eggplant salads are very common in Thrace, where my hometown is. Thrace (Trakya in Turkish) is the northwestern corner or the European part of Turkey. Thrace is a historical and geographical region that spreads over Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. The Turkish part is the Eastern Thrace. Eastern Thrace, in years, witnessed major waves of migration, population exchanges--like the two big ones after the Ottoman-Russian war and the Lausanne Treaty--which created the marvelous ethnic, cultural, and culinary mosaic of the region today.
My favorite jewel of this culinary mosaic, Tunçilik, is one of the many different versions of roasted eggplant salads or mezes (=appetizer) that's made in the region. Tunçilik is a specialty of the southwestern part of Turkish Thrace around Tekirdağ.
for 6 people
4 eggplants
5-6 mild green peppers (New Mexico Hatch, shishito, banana, Anaheim, or even poblano) or red peppers,
2 tomatoes, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
6-7 tbsp of vinegar
3-4 tbsp olive oil
salt
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
There's nothing written in stone. You can use more or less of everything listed up here. Whatever you do, make sure you use all the ingredients. There's no such thing as Tunçilik without parsley, peppers, or tomatoes, or vinegar. Make it less vinegary or more oily or peppery, but have all the ingredients.
-Roast eggplants and peppers on a grill until soft and charred, or in an oven at 450 Fahrenheit. Roast tomatoes along with eggplants and peppers for 4-5 minutes.
-Let them cool first. If you cover them with a paper bag or place them in a paper bag, they will sweat and peel much more easily. Then peel eggplants, peppers, and tomatoes. And seed them. (I leave some charred skin on for extra smoky flavor)
-Chopped them all finely.
-In a bowl place chopped eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and parsley.
-In a small bowl, mix crushed garlic, vinegar, olive oil, and salt. Add this on vegetables.
-Mix well. Taste. If you think you can handle a little more garlic and vinegar, do not hesitate to add more.
-Tunçilik goes well with grilled red meat/poultry or vegetables or with any kind of grain. And do not forget to soak the juice with a slice of good and preferably crusty bread.
Wow, what a completely fabulous recipe for this time of year. It sounds just delicious. I'm loving having eggplant in my garden this year.
ReplyDeletedear burcu,
ReplyDeletei am a big fan of your blog. your recipes are quite clear and the pictures are great. please keep writing, never think of stopping!
best wishes from a turkish friend who also lives abroad..
mahir
Kalyn, I have so many great eggplant recipes, you wouldn't believe. And most south beach friendly :)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Mahir! As long as there are more Turkish recipes and almost Turkish ones, I won't stop!
Do you prefer one particular type of vinegar for this recipe? It looks and sounds perfect, and there are so many varieties of eggplant in the market right now. I'm looking forward to trying this.
ReplyDeleteLydia, in Turkey we usually make this with red wine or apple vinegar, because there are the most common ones in stores. I made this one with rice vinegar, and it was still delicious. So I guess it doesn't matter what type of vinegar you use.
ReplyDeleteThis looks fabulous!
ReplyDeleteBurcu bu ismi hic duymamistim. Demek patlican salatasina siz tuncilik diyorsunuz, yeni birsey ögrendim.
ReplyDeleteSevgiler
Thanks, Simona.
ReplyDeleteDilek, Trakya'da bir kac cesit kozlenmis patlican salatasi var (mamzana, kopoglu, tuncilik, vs). Kiminde yogurt var, kiminde domates falan. Tuncilik ise Selanik macirlarinca yapilan ve de benim simdiye kadar gordugum sadece onlar tarafindan bu adla bilenen bir salata.
ben de tekirdağ şarköylüyüm. anne tarafım giselanik göçmeni ben hep tunçilik olarak bilirim. arkadaşlarım şaşırır hatta patlıcan salatası o kardeşim diye 😄 elinize sağlık.
DeleteLooks good! So do you just eat it plain, or is it more like a dip? i know you said to use bread to sop it up...
ReplyDeleteBeautiful pictures too.
That's a wonderful recipe!!!
ReplyDeleteJust one thing that I need to verify - for how long do you roast the vegetables? You wrote for 4-5 minutes. Did you mean - 45 minutes?
Also, do you put the tomatoes from the very beginning, with eggplants and peppers?
Thanks!
Ilana
What a wonderful use for all the fresh produce in the markets right now. If I ca't come to Turkey I can journey through your blog and taste the wonderful foods and culture.
ReplyDeleteKaterina: it's served as a salad or side dish. It's good with bread or red meat, but we don't eat like a dip.
ReplyDeleteIlana: you roast eggplants and peppers until they're soft. But you roast tomatoes only for 4-5 minutes. You roast tomatoes just because it's easier to peel them when they're roasted for a bit.
Thanks, Valli!
Hi Burcu,
ReplyDeletethis is a grrrrreat salad. I cant wait to try it. Roasted veggies and vinegar has always gone together very well. try roasting garlic, too.. very yummy and crispy :)
This is Yummmy!
ReplyDeleteI tried it last week with grilled lamb chops, and then had the left overs for lunch a couple of days later with chickpeas, celery, olives and flaked, baked salmon fillet (another left over!)
Got the tick of approval from husband also.
yum yum!
ReplyDeletePatlıcan salatasına bayılırım ellerine sağlık.Hem çok sağlıklı hem çok şık görünüyor..
ReplyDeletesevgiler...
This was a wonderful salad. I used red wine vinegar and can't wait to make it again.
ReplyDeleteI just made this and it's delicious! I think I didn't have enough eggplant, though. Next time I will make it, it will be even tastier! Thank you for this recipe.
ReplyDeleteMerhaba , im great fan of Turkish food, turkish lokum, turish People and Turkey as whole, im very happy to find turkish recipe in english how can i thank you Allah razi-olsun, can u please tell me about a patlican recipe where it is fried then put in dish then friend tomatoes and potatoes are put over it with some dried herbs and some time yogurt, great work my prayers r with u.
ReplyDeleteLovely salad with the following implementation and modification
ReplyDeleteAt 225C, roast eggplant with plenty of olive oil for 30+15 minutes, peppers for 20+10 minutes and tomatoes for 20 minutes on an aluminum foil tray. This helps the vegetables get crispy from the air rather than metal tray.
Then since I ran out of vinegar, borrow 5cl of the 2000 Dassault from the decanter. Nobody noticed there was only 14cl in the glasses at the end. Some even mentioned how well it complimented the red wine ...
OMG! This looks mouth-tastic!!! I want it right now, eggplant is so delicious and I haven't had it in forever. I am totally going to go stalk the rest of your web site! :P
ReplyDeleteI love this recipe. I have traveled to Turkey quite a bit and when I crave this dish I always use this recipe. Yum.
ReplyDeleteI have just discovered your fantastic blog and I have been on it for hours enjoying every page immensely... I should really get back to work.
ReplyDeleteI am originally from Turkey(interior Egean region) and now live in Canada. This roasted garden vegetable dish you have described has always been my favorite summer dish.
As a child I was sent by my parents to spend my summer vacations with my grandmother in our village. My only responsibility was to pick grapes from our vineyard and send them on a bus to my family in the city a few times a week.
Every few days my grand mother and other elder ladies of the neighbourhood had gathered under a large mulberry tree to make flat bread (yufka)and half-moon boreks stuffed with grated zucchini and green onions, spinach and cheese and even egg and spicy meat confite (bukme) on a round griddle.
Fuel used for the fire to bake the bread of course was dried wheat straw as wood and coal was scarce and there was no electricity (yes, am old).
At the end of each session they would bury freshly picked eggplants, peppers, tomatoes in the hot ashes of the remaining fire for roasting.
I would be rewarded with the stem ends of the roasted egg plants with a little salt for just watching them perform this ritual.
Warm salads made with these roasted smoky vegetables, little chopped red onions, parsley and a little lemon juice and fresh olive oil, scooped up with freshly baked flat bread rolls tested simply devine. I have been trying to duplicate it for over fourty years now.
Some notes in variations I observed, you might like to try:
- After removing the roasted eggplants from the hot ashes, they are cut length wise, salted and kept vertically in a colander for a few minutes to drain. This I am told drains the bitter taste out of eggplants and removes excess moisture for a more consistent texture in the mix.
Roasted tomatoes and peppers are not always peeled to add texture and smokier taste to the mix. Just brush off the ashes.
If available Tahini and little lemon juice with a little roasted garlic was sometimes added to the mix.
I also noticed that lemon juice was omitted if the roasted tomatoes were in the mix.
Mixing in fresh kaymak (solidified heavy cream) to the basic mix was my favorite version.
Sorry for rambling on for so long... Reading your wonderful blog made me do it.
Thank you sevgili Burcu with all my heart.
Tash.
Dear Tash,
DeleteThank you very much for your lovely words. What a great story about your childhood summers and also wonderful tips about the salad. I am already thinking about where to find kaymak to try with eggplant salad. Fantastic!
If you don't mind I'd like to share your suggestions in the recipe.
By all means, it would be my absolute pleasure to share this in your blog..
DeleteAbout the kaymak;
I am sure whipping cream or creme-fresh gently folded in the mixture after it is cooled down a little will do just as well.
Afiyet olsun.
Tash.
I'm going to try it right now! Sounds great! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteMade it for guests who are not fans of eggplant. They loved it.
ReplyDeleteHow wonderful! Roasted eggplant is really hard to resist.
Delete