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Fay Stout | all galleries >> Galleries >> My Recipe Box > Eggplant Appetizer
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21-NOV-2012

Eggplant Appetizer

Pbase has made the world a smaller place and a more personal place and that's what I love about it.
We get to share not only our photography but a bit of our lives with people all over the world and sometimes have the opportunity to travel and meet those people.

So I get a message from Buba Jafarli from the country of Georgia with a recipe for this eggplant appetizer.
He did not give it a name, so I simply called it "Eggplant Appetizer".
I followed his directions and I do not know if I should have gotten more color on the eggplant or not and that will be for him to decide and I'm not sure if the pieces are too big or too small but regardless... it is an interesting and addictive flavor combination and I will definitely make it again.
Do give it a try and send a big thank you to Buba.

Ingredients: 4-5 medium eggplants, oil, garlic, lemons, salt, thick plain yogurt (I used Greek yogurt), dried mint powder
To be served with fresh pita bread.

The proportions are not exact so I have given the ingredients as listed above.

1- Take a glass of yogurt and mix it with 2 Tbsp. of dried mint powder. Stir well and set aside. It will take a couple of hours to let the yogurt absorb the flavor of the mint.

2- Remove the skin from 4-5 mediuim-sized eggplants. Cut them approximately 1 cm. large.
Fry them with olive oil (sunflower, maize, canola - whatever you usually use). Do not use too much oil and the fire should be relatively strong.
Your task is to get even bronze color of the eggplant and preserve the shape more or less. Add salt to taste.
Just a half-minute before removing the pan from the fire, add one and a half or two tsp. of garlic paste of just squeezed garlic. Stir well.
The garlic should lose it's strength a bit, but not completely.
Once the cubes are ready, put them on a multi-layer napkin to get rid of any extra oil. 3-4 minutes should be enough.
Then put the cubes into the bowl and add the juice of 1-2 lemons.
Stir well again and put the bowl with eggplants aside for an hour or two.

Put a dollop of yogurt on the top of the eggplant (do not mix it in).

Serve with fresh pita bread.

Note: You can also add a tablespoon of tomato paste to the eggplants when you start frying them if desired. (I did not use this).

Buba goes on to say that he learned this recipe in Azerbaijan about 15 years ago and since then he has been "addicted" to eggplants Azeri-style.

Thank you Buba for sharing this recipe and now I too am addicted to eggplant Azeri-style!

To see Buba's photography please go to: http://www.pbase.com/bubajafarli/profile

Canon EOS 5D Mark II
1/40s f/7.1 at 58.0mm iso2000 full exif

other sizes: small medium large auto
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Buba Jafarli22-Nov-2012 15:45
Wow, Fay, this is amazing! The image is outstanding and I am sure the meal you have cooked was as tasty as it looks! Thank you for giving the recipe a try and advertising at across the entire pbase community! Big vote!
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