Spicy eggplant caviar
20 servings
120 minutes
Either you love eggplant caviar or you hate it, for some it's a delicacy, for others it's torture, but for everyone it's something from childhood.
1
Eggplants for caviar should be soft inside and seedless. In July, they are all young and seedless. Mature eggplants would have pronounced seeds, and all would end up in the caviar.
2
Chop the young tomatoes randomly; they don't need to be peeled as their skin is thin and won't be noticeable in the caviar. If the tomatoes have thick skin, it's better to remove it. Also chop the onion randomly and grate the carrot on a coarse grater. Clean the pepper from seeds and chop it randomly.
- Tomatoes: 1 kg
- Onion: 1 kg
- Carrot: 1 kg
- Sweet pepper: 800 g
3
Peel the eggplants to avoid bitterness. Cut them into 1 cm cubes. Eggplants darken quickly, but it's not a problem.
- Eggplants: 2 kg
4
All ingredients should be prepared separately. It's clear when each is ready. Start with the onion. Pour vegetable oil into the pan, add the onion, and cook it until golden-transparent. First, fry it on high heat for about five minutes while stirring, then simmer on low heat for about five to ten minutes with a lid on. Transfer the onion to a pot.
- Onion: 1 kg
5
Pour oil into the pan and add the carrot. The carrot should also become slightly transparent. Cook it like the onion - first on high heat, then covered on low heat. Transfer the carrot to the onion, trying to leave the oil in the pan: excess fat is unnecessary in caviar. Mix the carrot and onion immediately in the pot.
- Carrot: 1 kg
6
Sauté the pepper just like the carrot and onion. Once ready, add to the pot and mix everything.
- Sweet pepper: 800 g
7
The pepper absorbs most of the oil, so you need to add a little more and prepare the tomatoes. It's the same as with the previous vegetables. In the final stage of cooking the tomatoes, add a couple of cloves of garlic, sauté them together for 2 minutes, then add the cooked tomatoes to the pot with the other vegetables and move on to the eggplants.
- Tomatoes: 1 kg
- Salt: to taste
- Ground black pepper: pinch
- Black peppercorns: pinch
- Bay leaf: 2 pieces
- Imeretian saffron: pinch
8
Turn the heat to maximum under the pan, heat the oil, add the eggplants and salt them - a good pinch is needed. When the eggplants sizzle, reduce the heat and simmer covered.
- Eggplants: 2 kg
- Salt: to taste
9
Add one third of the eggplants to the pot and puree until the caviar has a thick-grainy texture.
- Eggplants: 2 kg
10
Chop the greens and add them to the remaining eggplants, simmer for a couple of minutes to let the greens release their flavor and aroma while keeping their color and texture.
- Basil: 2 sprigs
- Parsley: 50 g
11
Transfer everything from the frying pan to the pot and mix with a spatula. Add salt to taste (1-2 tablespoons), a pinch of ground pepper, a pinch of peppercorns, bay leaf, and a pinch of saffron.
- Salt: to taste
- Ground black pepper: pinch
- Black peppercorns: pinch
- Bay leaf: 2 pieces
- Imeretian saffron: pinch
12
Transfer the caviar to sterilized jars and seal with screw caps. The caviar can be eaten right now; it doesn't need aging. But it will also last until winter in such jars.