Badinjan Muhassa (Middle East eggplant recipe)

April 7, 2003

source:Ibn al-Mahdi's cookbook in 10th c. collection, Charles Perry tr.

Ingredients:

3/4 lb eggplant

1 c walnuts

2 T vinegar (for nut dough)

1/2 t salt (for nut dough)

1/8 t each pepper and salt

1 t caraway seed

1 1/2 T vinegar (at the end)

1/4 c chopped raw onion

Method:

Simmer the eggplant 20 to 30 minutes in salted water (1/2 t salt in a pint of water). Let it cool. Peel it. Slice it and let the slices sit on a colander or a cloth for an hour or so, to let out the bitter juice.Grind the walnuts, add vinegar and salt to make a dough. Make patties about 1/2" thick and put them on a frying pan at medium to medium high heat, without oil. In about half a minute, when the bottom side has browned a little, turn the patty over and use your pancake turner to squash it down to about 1/4" (the cooked side is less likely to stick to your implement than the uncooked side). Continue cooking, turning whenever the patty seems about to scorch. When you are done, the surface of the patty will be crisp, brown to black-and since it is thin, the patty is mostly surface. If the patties start giving up lots of walnut oil (it is obvious-they will quickly be swimming in the stuff) the pan is too hot; throw them out, turn down the heat and make some more.Chop up the eggplant, mix in the nut patties (they will break up in the process), add pepper, salt, caraway (ground in a spice grinder or mortar and pestle), and vinegar. Top with onion. Eat by itself or on bread.

Flor

"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you; For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Matthew 7: 7-8 KJV