A recipe from the Aegian Region of Turkey. A truely vegan dish prepared from scratch. Kids tend not to like eggplants too much. However this is so light and tasty; even they might give it a try.
As in most recipes from the Turkish cuisine this dish is prepared with easily accessible and low cost ingredients. Besides it is easy to prepare and really no chance to go wrong with the preparation.
For this specific recipe try to pick eggplants that are long and slim. Having slim eggplants will increase your chances that they will have less seeds in them. Eggplants with seeds tend to be less tasty. If you end up with buying fat eggplants, no need to worry just discard the middle part with the seeds, as that part is not tasty.
First peel the eggplants in stripes to look like they are wearing old fashioned pyjamas. Soak them up in salty water to brine for about half an hour to get rid of their sour taste and also to get rid of the black water. Then take them out of the water when the time is up. Rinse again and squeeze out the excess water, but you do not have to dry them, as this recipe does not require any frying.Then cut them vertically but not completely, keep the bottom part as it is.
Then cut vertically the slim long peppers, take out and discard the seedy part if any. Some or all the peppers may be spicy, as per your preferences. If you cannot find long, thin peppers, try to cut the peppers you have in long thin stripes. Most of the spiciness of the peppers will be lost when cooked anyway. Then either grate or chop to cubes the tomatoes.
Stuff each eggplant with generous amount of tomatoes and peppers and place them in a deep sauté pan, which has a lid. Sprinkle with salt and add whole or minced garlic cloves. The tomato and the eggplant will be leaving a lot of water so you do not need to add any additional water. Cook with slow-medium heat. Test whether the dish is ready or not by poking with a fork the bottom part of the eggplants. If the fork goes through easily your dish is ready to be served.
Some people fry the eggplants before stuffing and some sauté the tomatoes and peppers. I think omitting frying and sautéing makes the dish much easier and healthier.
You can serve this dish as a main dish or a side dish. You can serve it warm or chilled. However I must warn you that you might eat a lot of bread, dipping in the sauce is so tempting. Enjoy.
Pepper and Tomato Stuffed Eggplants
Ingredients
- 3 eggplants thin
- 2 tomatoes
- 2 peppers
- 3 garlic cloves chopped
- 100 millilitres olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Rinse and peel the eggplants in vertical strips. Add a teaspoon of salt. Keep them in this water for about 30 minutes so the bitter taste and water comes out.
- When the time is up, wash the eggplants and slice them vertically, but not the whole way through.
- Some choose to fry the eggplants slightly, but you can skip this to make the dish easier and lighter.
- Then cut the peppers to vertically long and thin slices and clean the seeds.
- Grate or cut to cubes the tomatoes.
- Then stuff some tomatoes and some green peppers into each eggplant.
- Add the olive oil into a wide, skillet and place each eggplant inside.
- Sprinkle with salt and minced garlic cloves.
- Cook until the eggplants are soft in the part that was not cut. You can check either by eating a piece or sticking in a fork.
- You can serve warm or cold. You can serve as a side or a main dish.
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