My grandmother was a real “character” woman from Odessa. Her vocabulary was precisely that filigree “tasty” Odessa speech, which is now disappearing, unfortunately. My grandmother forbade me to “hex the road”: no “where are you going”, you could only say something like “when are you going?”. We didn’t go to the bazaar – we “made” it. We learnt all the news from Privoz. When I was little granny taught me to read the cards, dress up and love women’s trinkets, collect “homeless” mulberries for compote, “rip off” local vineyards, and treat everything with humour. And she also taught me how to cook this traditional Odessa aubergine dip.
My grandmother was a real “character” woman from Odessa. Her vocabulary was precisely that filigree “tasty” Odessa speech, which is now disappearing, unfortunately. My grandmother forbade me to “hex the road”: no “where are you going”, you could only say something like “when are you going?”. We didn’t go to the bazaar – we “made” it. We learnt all the news from Privoz. When I was little granny taught me to read the cards, dress up and love women’s trinkets, collect “homeless” mulberries for compote, “rip off” local vineyards, and treat everything with humour. And she also taught me how to cook this traditional Odessa aubergine dip.- Prep time: 25 minutes
- Cook time: 10 minutes
- Serves: 8-10
- Difficulty: easy
- Course: appetizer
- Cookware: grater, knife, garlic press
- Cuisine: Odessa
Ingredients
- 1 kg aubergines
- 3 medium tomatoes
- ½ onion
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled
- 5 tbsp sunflower oil, extra virgin
- freshly ground black pepper
- sea salt
Cooking method
Step 1
Heat the oven to 220°C. Cover the baking sheet with foil. Prick the aubergines with a fork in several places, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Then turn on the grill mode, set the temperature to 250˚С and bake the aubergines for another 5 minutes until a “burnt crust” is formed. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Peel the aubergines. Chop the flesh with a knife into medium pieces. Place in a sieve and drain.
Step 2
Cut the tomatoes in half and grate on a coarse grater. Discard the tomato skins remaining in your hand. Put the pulp in a sieve and drain. Cut the onion into small cubes. Finely chop the garlic or squeeze in a garlic press.
Step 3
In a large bowl, mix aubergines, tomatoes, onion, garlic, sunflower oil. Add freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste. The dip should be stepped in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
My tips and tricks:
I tell you what, the essence of the aubergine dip is the smoke aroma. Without it, dip will be boring, like the one from a store around the corner. It is best to cook aubergines on the grill. For example, while you are waiting for the wood to burn down, to get coal for the barbecue. The fire will ruin the kebab, but it will work great for our purposes. Tomatoes can also be slightly “burned”, the dip will be even more aromatic. No barbecue, but you have a gas stove? Also an option! You take a sheet of foil and cut a hole the size of a gas ring in the middle. You put the foil on the ring. You turn on the lowest fire, put the aubergines on the ring. One ring – one aubergine. You fry, constantly turning and moving them on the rings so that the skin of the aubergines is completely “scorched”, but not burnt. The cooked aubergine will soften. And you don’t need to wash the stove, just remove the foil.
- 1 kg aubergines
- 3 medium tomatoes
- ½ onion
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled
- 5 tbsp sunflower oil, extra virgin
- freshly ground black pepper
- sea salt
- Heat the oven to 220°C. Cover the baking sheet with foil. Prick the aubergines with a fork in several places, and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Then turn on the grill mode, set the temperature to 250˚С and bake the aubergines for another 5 minutes until a "burnt crust" is formed. Remove from oven and leave to cool. Peel the aubergines. Chop the flesh with a knife into medium pieces. Place in a sieve and drain.
- Cut the tomatoes in half and grate on a coarse grater. Discard the tomato skins remaining in your hand. Put the pulp in a sieve and drain. Cut the onion into small cubes. Finely chop the garlic or squeeze in a garlic press.
- In a large bowl, mix aubergines, tomatoes, onion, garlic, sunflower oil. Add freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste. The dip should be stepped in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.