Eggplant dishes from south eastern part of Turkey are usually cooked with a sour ingredient: lemon or pomegranate molasses. I love eggplant dishes in every form, yet I find those tangy ones such as Adana style stuffed eggplants or eggplant and lentil stew with pomegranate molasses to be even more delicious during the summer days.
4 medium size eggplants, stem removed, peeled in occasional vertical stripes, and cut into edible chunks
2 medium onions, thinly sliced in half moons
4-5 tomatoes, diced
5-6 cloves or garlic, minced
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
juice of 1 lemon
a generous 1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 bunch parsley, chopped
-Place eggplant chunks in salted cold water for half an hour.
-Drain eggplants and squeeze them to remove excessive water.
-Mix eggplants with other ingredients in a pot (save half of the parsley).
-Cover and cook on low heat for 30-40 minutes, until eggplants are cooked (no water is necessary).
-Sprinkle rest of the parsley and serve hot or cold. Sour eggplant stew is even better the next day.
Hi Burcu,
ReplyDeleteYou know I never had eggplant with sour ingredients until last year. I grew up eating it in Italian dishes, usually with tomatoes, basil, cheese, etc. I tried a Middle Eastern recipe last year with pom molasses and really liked it, but yours sounds (and looks) even better. Thanks for the delicious idea!
Susan, looking at my blog don't think I eat only Turkish food. In my non-blogging life, I cook, eat, and enjoy a variety of cuisines. I love eggplant dishes, and other than Turkish recipes, I totally adore Italian and Chinese eggplant dishes. I really like the flavor that basil brings out of eggplant and time to time I cook Turkish eggplant dishes with an Italian touch.
ReplyDeleteAny excuse to eat eggplant and I'm there. This looks great. I've got two eggplant waiting for me so perhaps I will try this.
ReplyDeleteI am also an eggplant lover. This dish looks quite nice, especially now that the main ingredients are available at the local farmers' market.
ReplyDeleteI will love to try this!! And its not difficult to get these ingredients from Singapore! nice!
ReplyDeletethis sounds really great. can't wait to try it out.
ReplyDeleteI'm enjoying your blog very much - have recently moved to Ayvalik, on the north Aegean coast of Turkey, and am starting to cook the local way, with the fantastic olive oıl, and vegetables from the market, and using your recipes to do so. So far they've all worked extremely well.
ReplyDeleteThe barbunya were particularly good - I've made the recipe twice, and have been industriously freezing more beans for the winter months.