We try and explore the cuisine of a different country each month in our Blogging Marathon and I try to take up the theme, if only to bake a new kind of bread from a new country every month. This month’s cuisine is Moroccon and as I was browsing through various recipes, I realised how similar it is with Indian cuisine. I found this recipe for an eggplant and tomato salad called Zaalouk which is quite similar to Baingan Bhartha made in India. Coincidentally the husband picked 2 large eggplants on his trip to the supermarket and I decided to kill multiple birds with one stone.

This is a salad in Moroccan cuisine and is said to go very well with bread. I simply topped it on my toasted homemade bread and I have to tell you it is divine. I would have frowned on having baingan bartha for breakfast but this zaalouk with bread is a treat. The key difference between the two is the amount of tomatoes used in the dish. While we use 1 or 2 tomatoes for an entire eggplant, this dish calls for 3-4 making the taste significantly different, not to mention delicious.

Recipe adapted from here

Serves 4-5 people

WHAT WE NEED

2 large Eggplants

5-6 Ripe tomatoes

4-5 Garlic cloves

1 tbsp Cumin seeds

1 tsp red chilly powder / paprika

Oil

Salt

Water

 

WHAT TO DO

• Rub some oil on the eggplants, poke a few holes with a fork and roast them on high flame till they are cooked
• Remove the skins and mash well
• Heat 2-3 tsp of oil in a pan and add cumin seeds
• Finely chop the garlic and add to the pan
• Add finely chopped tomatoes and chilly powder and let cook for 5-6 minutes on low flame
• Add the roasted eggplants and mix well
• Add salt and a little water and simmer for 5-7 minutes
• Garnish with fresh coriander and serve hot
• Enjoy with some bread!

This is my post for the Blogging Marathon under the theme, ‘Moroccan Cuisine’.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing this BM