Fried Eggplant and Roasted Pepper Salad with Feta

Name: Fried Eggplant and Roasted Pepper Salad with Feta
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Ingredients: Eggplants 2; Red bell pepper 2; Purple onion 1; Feta or brynza 100 g; Cilantro 0.5 bunch; Pomegranate 1; Olive oil 50 ml; Garlic 1-2 cloves; Salt, black pepper, hot pepper, aromatic herbs to taste

A summer salad of fried eggplant with roasted pepper and cheese is a tasty, filling appetizer that works just as well for breakfast or as a starter before lunch. You can serve it cold or warm, add other vegetables, vary the dressing, and make the dish low-calorie or spicy.

Eggplant is a common vegetable, used for appetizers nearly all over the world. One of the best-known cold dishes of the East is baba ghanoush, a salad of eggplants roasted over fire, with a wonderful mix of grill flavor and tahini. Chopped fried eggplant salad ajapsandali, from Georgia, is a spicy and delicious appetizer. In the south, “salad of little blue ones” is popular, a dish similar to caviar, but more coarsely chopped and a little hotter.

In the Balkans such appetizers are made in a similar way. An eggplant and pepper salad, or the Serbian ajvar, a vegetable “caviar”, is served on its own or as part of complex salads and composite appetizers. For appetizers like these, which can be spread on bread, the term “caviar” is used most often, while for dishes made of large pieces the term “salad” is used.

It's worth noting that an appetizer of fried eggplant can be made with a little vegetable oil or none at all. That suits fans of all kinds of diets. There are many ways to fry eggplant so it absorbs as little oil as possible. The simplest is to bake the whole fruit in the oven or over coals, but then it's hard to cut it into pieces. A better way is to brush the pieces with oil and bake them. Or fry them in a pan, stirring often with a spatula.

In Turkish cuisine, many dishes use eggplant, which there seems to be considered the main vegetable. Fried eggplant salad, dishes built on the begendi sauce (chicken or beans in sauce), and the imam bayildi appetizer are found everywhere.

A salad of eggplant and pepper with herbs and feta or brynza cheese is a very healthy appetizer. Vegetables, fresh cheese, herbs and olive oil are an excellent source of trace elements and vitamins. On the whole, eggplant salad with cheese fits the idea of a “Mediterranean diet”, which many people like. Fans of a healthy lifestyle will appreciate it.

More with bell peppers and eggplant

Vegetable PizzaHomemade vegetable pizza with fresh tomato sauce, fried eggplant, roasted peppers, pickled onion, mozzarella and Parmesan. Step-by-step recipe with photos.

Ajapsandali: spiced Caucasian eggplant stewAjapsandali, a fragrant Caucasian stew of eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, garlic and fresh herbs. Step-by-step recipe with photos, hot or cold.

AjvarSerbian ajvar: a smoky sauce of fire-roasted sweet red peppers, eggplant and garlic, simmered and sealed in jars for winter. Step-by-step recipe with photos.

Kyopolou: Bulgarian Green Caviar from Eggplants, Peppers and TomatoesKyopolou, Bulgarian green caviar: baked eggplants and peppers simmered with tomatoes, garlic and savory. A refined chilled appetizer for bread or meze.

Lecho with EggplantEasy lecho with eggplant, sweet peppers, onion and tomatoes. A Bulgarian-style eggplant stew for serving with bread or rice, or for canning. Step-by-step recipe.

Ingredients

2 servings

Eggplants 2
Red bell pepper 2
Purple onion 1
Feta or brynza 100 g
Cilantro 0.5 bunch
Pomegranate 1
Olive oil 50 ml
Garlic 1-2 cloves
Salt, black pepper, hot pepper, aromatic herbs to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Prepare the roasted and fried vegetables ahead of time, as they need time to cool. To make a salad for two, two medium eggplants are enough, preferably young ones without hard seeds. You'll also need a piece of fresh cheese: feta or a not-too-salty brynza will do. For greens, cilantro is best, but you can use parsley instead if you like. And it's worth adding a red bell pepper.
Roasted red bell pepper brings a note of grill flavor and aroma to the salad. Ideally you can roast the red peppers in a flame or on burning coals, which guarantees the taste and smell. You also get a good result in a Bulgarian electric pepper roaster, a chushkopek. Roast the peppers until the skin is charred, then keep them in a closed container until they cool.
Slice the eggplants into rounds 12-15 mm thick. It's often recommended to sprinkle eggplant with salt, let it stand for a while, then rinse, which removes bitterness. Frankly, I haven't come across bitter ones for a long time. So removing the bitterness depends on the circumstances. To cut down on the vegetable oil that eggplant eagerly soaks up when frying, we'll measure it out strictly. You'll need a silicone brush, the kind used to grease pies before baking.
So, brush the bottom of a pan with olive oil and heat it over medium heat. Lay the eggplant rounds on the oil and fry for 1-2 mins, until all the oil is completely absorbed. Then brush the tops with oil and turn them right away. After that, turning often, fry the eggplant until pleasantly golden and soft.
The total frying time is usually 5-6 mins. Don't overfry, or the appetizer will have an unpleasant aftertaste. With this method of frying, not much olive oil is used. Get a large plate or dish ready. Cut the cooled eggplant rounds in half and arrange them on the plate.
Peel the cooled peppers of their charred outer skin, then remove the seeds and stem. Cut the flesh into fairly wide strips. Add the pepper to the plate. Peel the small purple onion and cut it into rings. Add the onion to the vegetables and toss lightly.
We'll dress the salad with olive oil and pomegranate juice. Peel a ripe pomegranate. Set aside about 1 tbsp of the seeds, and squeeze the rest, straining the juice through a sieve. In a small bowl or cup, mix 1 tbsp olive oil, 2 tbsp pomegranate juice, and a peeled, finely chopped clove of garlic. Salt the mixture and add the other spices to taste. If you like, add 1-2 tsp lemon juice. Whisk the mixture with a fork.
Cut the cheese into small cubes. Finely chop the cilantro. Lay the cheese cubes over the vegetables and sprinkle with the herbs. Just before serving, pour the olive oil and pomegranate dressing over the vegetables. Top with the remaining whole pomegranate seeds.
Fried eggplant salad is served at room temperature; it needs no resting or chilling. If you like, use fresh pepper in the salad, and add some finely chopped hot pepper. It's also nice with small cherry tomatoes cut in half. Overall, the appetizer is somewhat like a Greek salad of fried and roasted vegetables.