The market · Vegetables · Southern Europe, The Middle East, South Asia
Aubergines
Eggplant: bland raw, and transformed by fire or plenty of oil into something smoky and creamy.
smoky when charred · creamy
What to do with it
FilipinoSinigangA sour soup of pork, prawns or fish with vegetables, soured most often with tamarind.No one here has made it yetFilipinoKare-kareOxtail and tripe stewed in a thick peanut sauce, coloured with annatto, eaten with sharp shrimp paste.No one here has made it yetSichuanFish-fragrant aubergineAubergine fried soft, then braised in a sweet, sour, hot sauce of pickled chilli, garlic, ginger and spring onion — with no fish at all.No one here has made it yetGujaratiUndhiyuA winter medley of flat beans, purple yam, sweet potato, baby aubergine and plantain, slow-cooked with fenugreek dumplings and a green masala of coconut and coriander.No one here has made it yetSouth IndianSambarPigeon-pea lentils cooked with tamarind, vegetables and a roasted spice powder, then tempered — poured over rice, or with idli and dosa.No one here has made it yetSri LankanLampraisRice cooked in stock, with a mixed-meat curry, frikkadels, prawn blachan, aubergine pickle and egg, wrapped in banana leaf and baked.No one here has made it yetPersianMirza ghasemiAubergines charred whole over a flame, mashed with garlic, tomato and egg — smoky, rich and eaten with bread.No one here has made it yetTurkishİmam bayıldıWhole aubergines, split and fried, filled with onion, garlic and tomato and baked in olive oil until they collapse — eaten cool.No one here has made it yet
MoroccanZaaloukAubergine and tomato cooked down with garlic, cumin and paprika, mashed, and eaten warm or cold with bread.No one here has made it yetCatalanEscalivadaAubergines, red peppers and onions roasted whole in the embers until blackened and soft, then peeled, torn into strips and dressed with olive oil.No one here has made it yet
ProvençalRatatouilleAubergine, courgette, peppers, onion and tomato stewed slowly in olive oil with garlic and herbs.No one here has made it yetItalianCaponataFried aubergine with celery, onion, tomato, capers and olives, in a sweet-and-sour sauce of vinegar and sugar.No one here has made it yetItalianPasta alla NormaPasta in a sauce of tomato, garlic and basil with fried aubergine, under a snow of grated ricotta salata.No one here has made it yetGreekMoussakaLayers of fried aubergine and minced lamb or beef in a cinnamon-scented tomato sauce, under a thick crust of béchamel, baked.No one here has made it yet
MoroccanZaaloukAubergine and tomato cooked down with garlic, cumin and paprika, mashed, and eaten warm or cold with bread.No one here has made it yetCatalanEscalivadaAubergines, red peppers and onions roasted whole in the embers until blackened and soft, then peeled, torn into strips and dressed with olive oil.No one here has made it yetProvençalRatatouilleAubergine, courgette, peppers, onion and tomato stewed slowly in olive oil with garlic and herbs.No one here has made it yetItalianCaponataFried aubergine with celery, onion, tomato, capers and olives, in a sweet-and-sour sauce of vinegar and sugar.No one here has made it yetItalianPasta alla NormaPasta in a sauce of tomato, garlic and basil with fried aubergine, under a snow of grated ricotta salata.No one here has made it yetGreekMoussakaLayers of fried aubergine and minced lamb or beef in a cinnamon-scented tomato sauce, under a thick crust of béchamel, baked.No one here has made it yetKitchens that keep it in
Turkey — Anatolia and Thrace, between the Black Sea and the MediterraneanTurkishKebabs off the charcoal, yoghurt with nearly everything, vegetables slow-cooked in olive oil and pastry rolled thin as paper — the cooking of Anatolia and the Ottoman table.10 classicsCatalonia — north-eastern Spain, from the Pyrenees to the Ebro deltaCatalanA Mediterranean kitchen of sauces — a slow sofregit to begin, a pounded picada to finish — with bread rubbed with tomato, vegetables charred in the embers, and sea and mountain on the same plate.7 classics
