Eggplant Satsivi with Walnuts and Cilantro – Garlic Eggplants

Step-by-step recipe

1. For this dish you need young, really small eggplants. Since it's served in individual portions, large eggplants are not what you want. Ideally they should be no longer than 12 cm.
   
2. Many recipes suggest boiling the eggplants. Honestly, I can't bring myself to do it. Baking only! You can use the oven and a baking tray, but it's faster and more reliable in a microwave. Wash the eggplants and wipe them dry with paper towels. Don't remove the green stems.
   
3. Next comes the delicate part: preparing a “pocket” for the stuffing. With a small sharp knife, make a deep lengthwise cut from the top down to the stem. The cut must be deep, but the knife must not pierce the eggplant through. A little way from the cut, make another one and carefully scoop out some of the flesh with a spoon. You should end up with a deep lengthwise “pocket”.
   
4. Brush the eggplants with vegetable oil, taking special care with the green stems so they don't burn. Put the plate of prepared vegetables in the microwave for 6-8 mins and bake on full power. They will turn soft and “wilt”.
   
5. Let the baked eggplants cool. By the way, baked like this they are very tasty on their own and are the base for wonderful dishes, such as begendi sauce, or the Greek appetizer melitzanosalata.
6. Bring a little water to a boil in a pot and boil the celery stalks in it until soft. Before boiling, pull the leaves off the stalks. Boiling time is 10-15 mins.
   
7. Pick over the walnuts, removing damaged kernels, bits of shell and the partitions that are often found among them. Peel the garlic.
9. Put the walnut kernels, garlic, green celery leaves, 1 tsp khmeli suneli, a little salt, cinnamon (a knife tip) and 1-2 clove buds into a blender and grind to a paste. For a finer texture, you can grind the paste further in a mortar.
   
10. Add 4 tbsp white wine vinegar. Stir to make a very thick sauce.
11. Peel the onion and chop it finely. Fry the onion in butter until golden, then simmer a little longer under a lid over low heat.
    
12. Next add the onion to the nut dressing and mix. The sauce is now ready.
    
13. The sauce should be very thick. Using a teaspoon, stuff the eggplants with the nut dressing. Wrap each eggplant with a boiled celery stalk. If a stalk is too thick, split it lengthwise into two or more strips with a knife.
    
14. Place the eggplants on a plate and pour the remaining nut sauce over them.
    
15. Garnish with herbs and boiled celery.
    
16. Next put the appetizer in the fridge. The dish should be served cold.
17. Garlicky vegetables go perfectly with a glass of good red wine.