Most of y'all know how much I LOVE to eat, and some of y'all know I LOVE to cook just as much. In fact, I find one of the best ways to enjoy a new culture is through it's food and beverage traditions. So, of course, once I fell in love with Georgia, and Georgian food (my favorite by far!) I HAD to ask my host mom to teach me how to cook one of my favorite meals! Not only was it great for me to learn how to cook a new dish (especially since it didn't appear in the Georgian cookbook I purchased before I left), but it was also a great opportunity to learn new vocabulary in Russian, and most importantly, to bond with my host mom! Моя грузинская мама <3
Unfortunately, the photos for this entry aren't that great, I couldn't quite stop and get them as clear as I would have liked, because cooking was more important than taking photos. Yes, I suppose I could make this dish again, and take super nice photos before posting this recipe, but I'm sure y'all would rather see the result as guided by my Georgian mom more than the bastardization it's turned into since I can't always find the proper ingredients or feel like taking the time to do everything exactly as she taught me. Some photos I took tonight, as I made a different dish, but other than those (which for some reason are STILL not as clear as I'd hoped) all of the photos are from the day my Georgian mom taught me & Sasha how to make this dish
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I mentioned in my post about
homesickness that I started making the dish my Georgian mom taught me on a regular basis, well, this is it! This is what I make when I need to feel a little bit of Georgia, a little bit of home, a little bit of love. I hope y'all give it a try, it's not hard, and it's incredibly tasty! (Especially the day after... and the day after that... and the day after that!)
So, here we go... my 1st cooking lesson:
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| Look at that... you KNOW you want to try it... do it... I dare you! |
Eggplant with Tomatoes, Баклажан с Помидорами (Bahklazhan s Pomidorami), აჯაფსანდალი (Ajapsandali)
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| A lot thinner than back home, right? |
Slice eggplant, fry, then cut into about 1 inch strips... about 1/2 kilo, or 1.2lbs (or once you're comfortable with the recipe, however much eggplant you feel like eating. Remember, it's the star of this dish) anyway, that's how mom does it, long slices cut into 1 inch strips, but I find that to be a pain in the butt, so I just slice it the easy way, rounds, then once they're fried cut those into half or quarters, or slices (depending on the thickness of the eggplant), if you want to be certain that you get all bitterness out of the eggplant because you're scared you don't really like eggplant (I tried cooking with eggplant before I liked it... I didn't know how to prepare it... it turned out SO bad that I didn't even give it a try again until I lived in Batumi) simply add some salt, pop it in a colander for about 10 min, let it start to turn brown as the salt pulls all that bitter taste out of the eggplant, then rinse it, and fry it. (Or if you like your food really salty, don't bother to rinse it, you'll simply need to adjust how much salt you add later on.)
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| Brown it as much as you want, just don't burn it! |
Frying will present itself with issues. You're best (and healthiest) bet is to use a REALLY good nonstick pan. Eggplant will absorb ALL of the fat/oil/butter you put into a pan to fry it. Use a good nonstick pan, and NO fat. It will stick a wee bit, but not enough to cause a pain in the butt upon cleanup, especially if you don't salt the eggplant beforehand, it will come out fairly easy. Not only is it healthier, but its also easier and easier. If you have to use some sort of fat to keep it from sticking to the pan, use it sparingly, otherwise you'll go through a TON of olive oil, butter, whatever. Let it turn brown, flip it, and let it turn brown again. Once it's cooled, slice it. You can do all of the frying hours, or even a day beforehand. It'll make throwing the rest of the dish together super quick!
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| Yes, it looks slimy and gross, but it tastes great! |
Chop 4 small onions, fry in some oil - OR if you REALLY like onions (like I do) add more.
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| You could just use 2 larger onions if you want. |
1 Red bell pepper (or whatever pepper you can find that isn't a spicy pepper) sliced.
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| Make the slices as small or big as you want. |
Some Coriander/cilantro, sliced (cilantro DOES have a different taste from coriander, but sometimes you can't get fresh cilantro, so you have to settle... (yeah I didn't like cilantro until I lived in Georgia either)
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| I STILL forget that basil is purple around here when shopping! |
Basil sliced - did you know that basil can be purple!? I didn't!
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| Yeah, just add everything to 1 bowl for later. |
4 tomatoes use a grater - or you can be lazy af and just chop it up. I hate cleaning the dadgummed grater afterwards, so I've begun to just chop up the tomatoes as small as I can, and making sure that all of the juice ends up in the pot.
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| Try not to scrape your fingers too much. |
4/5 cloves garlic - again, if you REALLY like garlic (like me) add more!
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| Simply not enough garlic imo... |
Add 1 spoon of tomato paste to the onions once they're golden brown. If you don't know how to make onions beautifully golden brown, how do you survive!?! (Put butter/oil in warm pan, add onions, stir occasionally over low heat, you don't want to burn them! This step takes time - go prep other stuff)
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| Browning onions takes time - go chop something for a bit. |
Then, add the tomato goo to onions too, sit on heat for 5 minutes, and bring it back to boil.
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| Goo beautiful Goo! You'll never buy premade sauce again! |
Grate garlic (or if you hate cleaning the grater - chop it as finely as possible, the flavor won't be as strong, but it'll still be there).
Chop a hot pepper - jalapeno - do NOT mix this up with a pobalno... they look the same, but don't taste the same. You want this to be a bit spicy... or if you really like spicy food (like me) add more! MORE! MOAR!!!
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| This was when I realized that my knife skills need serious work. |
Add hot tomato mixture to pot with sliced/chopped eggplant, then put it back on heat for 5 min. This is an unnecessary step to me, but that's how my host mom did it. I usually just add the eggplant to the hot mixture, stir it up really good, and let it sit on the burner for a few minutes.
Next, lower the heat, add garlic and hot pepper.
Then, add a little water if needed, it should be thick, like a stew.
Finally, add everything else, and then salt more if need be.
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| Don't forget the secret ingredient! Love. Always cook with love. I'm not even kidding about that one. |
Right before serving, add the cilantro, red pepper, and basil. (Because we threw all of that into the same bowl in a previous photo, remeber) The freshness of the herbs will be noticeable even when served as leftovers. Serve with some fresh bread, preferably a hot bread boat, just purchased from the window down the street. (Sorry to everyone in the US, that's just not a thing there, is it?) Some fresh cheese, and even homemade wine are great accompaniments as well!
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| Viola! Enjoy! Приятного аппетита! |
And there you go! My favorite dish. I know what you're probably thinking too --- EWWW EGGPLANT! Well, so did I. In fact, when my Georgian mom asked me what food I don't like to eat during my first few days there, I said olives (which I now LOVE) and I would have said Eggplant, but I didn't know the word in Russian. HOW HAPPY AM I THAT I DIDN'T KNOW THE WORD!? Georgian (and even Turkish) food is full of this wonderful vegetable, and dude, it is delicious! The reason you probably don't like it, is probably similar to why you don't like mushrooms - the texture. Well, that's really because people in the US just don't know how to prepare these food items to make them appetizing. Go try this recipe. If you're concerned you're doing it wrong, contact me, if I'm awake and available, I'll walk you through it - heck, I may even be making it at the same time! The texture, you get over when it's made properly. Why? Because it just tastes SO FREAKING GOOD! You want to sneak more veggies into your diet? Here's the perfect dish for it. It'll introduce you to a good way to prepare eggplant, then, the next thing you know, you're sneaking it into your pasta sauce, and replacing your pasta with squash. I mean, really... store bought pasta is just gross, the Vegetti (yeah it sounds nasty/naughty) was a WONDERFUL invention and totally worth the $10-15 you spendon it. Either learn to make flavorful pasta on your own, or replace it with squash or zucchini, you don't need those extra, flavorless carbs. That's my pasta/carb rant... I know ONE of my friends would be proud, since he's always pressuring me to turn part of this blog into a guide to clean eating while traveling. Sorry guys, but I eat whatever is tasty when I travel, it just so happens that the tasty foods when you travel to the places I go, somehow aren't as unhealthy/detrimental to you as they would be back in the US.
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| Of course cooking, just like meals, are best enjoyed with good company! <3 |
So... there you go! Finally a post from my time in Batumi! An interactive post at that! Try the recipe, tell me how it worked out, tell me how you liked it, tell me about any other Georgian dishes you want me to learn, and teach you how to make! (Yes, I fully intend to ask my Georgian mom to teach me more recipes when I finally go see her.)
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| Моя грузинская мама! My Georgian mom - isn't she cute!? |
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