Eggplant Salad

Birds eye view of Eggplant Salad

This dish is one of the most favorite dishes my students love. It makes me very happy to prepare it because they also do not get tired of this nutritious and delicious salad.  I heard that eggplants originated in China and India, and were brought to the Americas with the Spaniards in the 1500s. Also, I found out that the ability to prepare this dish, or something similar with eggplant, was one of the ways the Inquisitors identified a Jew. Which means, the innocent eggplant was a revelatory signal providing a motive for the Inquisitors to capture, torture, and kill a crypto-Jew, meaning a Jew who converted to Christianity, but kept their Judaism in secret. They thought, by hiding their identity was a way to stay in the Spanish Kingdom.  

Skill Level: Medium

Serving Amount: 6 

Time to Prepare: 01:45

icon for Vegetarian icon for Veganicon for DairyFreeicon for Gluten Free

 

Ingredients

  • 2 or 3 eggplants, big size
  • 1 cup of salt
  • 1 cup of Cilantro, chopped
  • 2 or3 tablespoon of sweet paprika (Ideally: Pereg)
  • 1 cup of olive oil

Tools

  • 1 or 2 Aluminum foil tray
  • 1 Pyrex bowl
  • 1 Pot
  • 1 Knife
  • 1 Colander
  • 1 Small wooden spoon

Steps to Prepare

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F
  2. Wash the eggplants.
  3. Slice them uniformly in 1/2 inch thick slices.
  4. Put the slices in a colander and sprinkle salt generously over each side of the eggplant.
  5. Let sit for around 45 minutes to one hour.
  6. Meanwhile, add the oil, paprika and the cilantro in a bowl.
  7. Stir these ingredients and let it sit.
  8. After 45 minutes or one hour, take the slices of the eggplant and rinse each one carefully.
  9. Place them on a paper towel and dry them.
  10. Take each slice and soak it in the oil mixture and then place each slice on the aluminum tray.
  11. Put the tray(s) in the oven.
  12. Bake the eggplants for around ~20-25 minutes.
  13. Let them cool at room temperature for 10 minutes
  14. Serve

Bon Appétit !

 

Notes

Feel free to:

  • use “Cayenne spice” if you like the dish a little spicy or “Za’atar spice blend” for something interesting.
  • put it in the refrigerator and eat it cold, if you do not want to it is in room temperature.
  • add cumin to the oil mixture.

History

Do you want to know why it is called “eggplant”? Do you want to learn a little about the history of this vegetable? Here is something interesting.