Zaalouk

Ingredients

3 pounds eggplants

3 pounds tomatoes (pick them super red)

1/2 red pepper

Cumin and salt (to taste)

Crushed garlic (to taste)

Vegetable oil for frying

Directions

Preparing the Eggplants:

You will need 3 pounds of eggplants. Partially peel them, then cut them lengthwise into medium slices. Sprinkle with salt and fry them in hot vegetable oil.

After few minutes of frying them, use a fork to poke the eggplant slices.

Make sure to turn the slices around, so that both sides are fried until they become deep golden brown.

Once done, remove the eggplant slices form the oil, let them sit in a sieve so that excess oil drips. Keep some of that oil as we are going to use it later.

Preparing the Tomatoes:

You will also need 3 pounds of super red fresh tomatoes. Remove the skin and the seeds from the tomatoes, and cut them in small pieces. Add a bit of salt and cook them on medium-high heat until their liquid is evaporated and you get a thick tomato paste.

Final Steps:

The final step is to combine the fried eggplant slices cut into small pieces, the cooked tomatoes, and ½ a red pepper grilled or roasted, peeled, and cut into small pieces.  Place all these ingredients in a pan, and add a little bit of oil that was used to fry the eggplant.

You will also need cumin, salt, and crushed garlic. You can adjust them to your taste, just remember that we have already added salt to the eggplants and tomatoes before cooking them.

Cook all the ingredients on medium heat. Stir continuously while cooking the zaalouk.

After 10-15 minutes, the zaalouk is ready. Remove it from the heat and let it sit on your counter to cool down. You can also title the pan if you want to remove any excess oil.

And that’s it, serve warm or cold with bread!