Turkish-style shakshuka

I don't actually know if this is the name of the dish. But since it's very similar to more familiar recipes for shakshuka (minus the egg), I'm going to go with it.

I've had many different versions of this dish, most recently when I visited Istanbul and made it my mission to sample as many different variations of it as possible. Since returning to London, I've been hitting up the excellent Turkish/Kurdish restaurants in my neighbourhood to satisfy my near constant craving for eggplants in tomato sauce. I've also scoured the internet looking for recipes that might help me approximate the deliciousness at home. None of the recipes I found seemed to quite nail it, and so with one particularly fabulous example in mind (served to me at a Circassian restaurant in Istanbul) I decided to experiment. Here is what I came up with. It's dead easy to do, and outrageously delicious.

Ingredients:

2 Medium sized purple eggplants, diced into 1 inch cubes
1 half of a yellow onion, finely chopped
2 roasted red peppers (from a jar is fine)
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper or hot paprika
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 can diced tomatoes 
4 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic
1 cup strained yogurt
Salt & pepper to taste

Method:

First, cut the eggplant into 1 inch cubes and put them into a large bowlful of salted water. Let them sit for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every so often. This leeches out the bitterness, and is a step not to be skipped.

Meanwhile, finely chop half a yellow onion and saute it in about 2 tbs olive oil on medium head until soft. Add ground cumin, cayenne pepper and cinnamon and let toast in the oil for a couple minutes. Add two roasted red peppers, diced, and 1 clove of garlic finely minced. Saute and stir for a couple minutes until mixture is well blended and lightly bubbling. Then add can of diced tomato and let simmer with a lid on over low heat for about 30 minutes. You want the sauce to be thick, but be careful not to let it dry out.

Once the eggplant has been properly leached, drain the water and pat the eggplant dry. In a large heavy-bottomed skillet (I prefer to use cast iron), heat up 1/4 cup of vegetable oil. Once the oil is hot, add half the eggplant, making sure not to crowd the pan. Fry until the egglant is nice and brown and crispy on the outside, and soft and mushy on the inside. Remove first batch of eggplant from the pan and drain the excess oil on paper towels. Repeat the process with the second batch of eggplant.

Once the eggplant has finished cooking and the excess oil has been drained, sprinkle with salt and then gently add the eggplant to the tomato sauce, stirring until well mixed but being careful not to mash it. Turn the heat off and let the eggplant sit in the cooling sauce for at least 30 to 45 minutes before serving. This dish is definitely best served at room temperature, and can be made several hours in advance. In fact the flavours only get better the longer you let it sit.

As you are waiting for the eggplant to cool, finely mince/mash 1 clove of garlic. You want it to be as broken down as possible. Take the minced garlic paste and mix it into 1 cup of strained yogurt. Make sure you mix it well so that the garlic is evenly distributed in the yogurt.

To serve, pile the room temperature eggplant and tomato mixture into dish, and pour the garlic yogurt on top. Finish off by sprinkling on some salt and pepper, and drizzling 1 or 2 table spoons of olive oil over the yogurt. Eat with flat bread. Makes a great side dish or starter!