Fun With Bademjan!

I can now sleep tonight! The previous blog had no recipe – because I couldn’t find one. But my dear big sister, Alison, and friend, Millie quickly queried the lack of such vital information.

So, as a special request for starters from my big sis and Millie, I give you one of my favourites, mirza ghasemi - a tasty eggplant dip.

Mirza Ghasemi or eggplant dip

I am quite fond of eggplant myself, but rarely cook it. Our three daughters are pretty much omnivores and Gary will usually eat whatever is put in front of him. But if I serve him a dish containing eggplant, there is usually a good deal of moaning and groaning. And I am then admonished for “forgetting” they he doesn’t like it!

So when Millie asked for an eggplant starter, I was only too happy to oblige.

I first tasted mirza ghasemi at a dinner party at the home of Kavous and Maryam, our first landlords in Tehran and now our good friends. Maryam is an amazing cook, and her mirza ghasemi is unsurpassable. I can make it and it tastes fine, but nothing to compare with Maryam’s. In fact, I once ate so much of her eggplant dip served with Iranian crisp bread, that I hardly had any room left for her delicious dinner.

Mirza ghasemi is not difficult to make. It is normally served with local bread, such as barbari or lavash, but if you can’t get these, pita bread, crackers or even crisps are fine. However, do be careful with the garlic. The first recipe I had for mirza ghasemi said to add six large cloves of garlic. Which I did! And you could tell for the next few days whenever I was near.

So, if you are having a problem or two with your neighbourhood vampires, then six garlic cloves is not such a bad idea. But if you wish to still be friends with people around you, I would suggest you be more judicious with the amount of garlic you add. Mr. Rashidi, always a willing food tester who can be guaranteed to give honest feedback, politely declined my first attempt.  After one sniff, he delicately mentioned that it would not be professional to turn up at the office wafting around eau de garlic!

So, cook and enjoy!

Mirza Ghasemi

Ingredients:

4 medium sized eggplant (aubergine)

90 grams of butter or about 6 to 7 tablespoons of olive oil

About 5 gloves of garlic (to taste), crushed

½ teaspoon of turmeric

230 grams (or about 3 large) tomatoes

4 eggs

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

About 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

What to do:

Wash the eggplant and cut of the green bit at the top. Cut in half lengthways and score the outside of the skin with a fork.

Grill the eggplant until the insides are soft. Alternatively, heat the oven to 180° Celsius, put the eggplant face down on an oiled tray and let them bake for about 40 minutes. Allow to cool, then scoop out the flesh from the eggplant, discard the purple skins.  Mash or chop finely the eggplant.

Cut a cross in the bottom of each tomato.  Put a pan of water on to boil. When it reaches boiling point pop the tomatoes in and boil for 1 minute. Immediately, scoop the tomatoes out of the hot water and plunge them in a bowl of iced water. Remove the skins and chop the tomatoes really small.

Pour half of the oil into a pan and cook the eggplant for a few minutes.  Remove eggplant from the pan and put in a separate bowl. Add the remaining oil and fry the garlic and turmeric for a minute or two.

Add the tomatoes and fry gently for a few minutes, and then put back in the eggplant.  Cook carefully for about 10 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t burn or stick to the pan.

Whisk the eggs in a bowl.  Scoop out a few spoonful’s of the vegetable mix and stir it thoroughly with the whisked eggs.  Pour this back in the pan, and simmer gently for about 5 minutes or until the eggs are cooked.

Add the lemon juice, salt and pepper and serve hot or at room temperature.