Baked eggplant pkhali
5 servings
60 minutes
Recipe from Saperavi Café chef Irakli Dondua.
1
Preheat the oven to 240 degrees.
2
Wash and dry the eggplants. Poke them in several places with a skewer, place on a baking sheet, and bake for 20-30 minutes. Check readiness with a skewer - if it easily goes into the flesh, the eggplants are done.
- Eggplant: 1 kg
3
Place the eggplants in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let the eggplants cool, peel off the skin, and cut off the stems.
4
Squeeze the eggplant flesh through cheesecloth to remove excess juice and chop finely with a knife.
5
Chop onion, garlic, chili pepper, nuts, and herbs finely, mix with eggplants, add all spices except salt. Knead well and let it steep for 1 hour.
- Shelled hazelnuts: 70 g
- Shelled walnuts: 70 g
- Onion: 70 g
- Cilantro: 50 g
- Garlic: 10 g
- Blue fenugreek (utskho-suneli): 0.5 teaspoon
- Khmeli-suneli: 0.5 teaspoon
- Fresh chili pepper: 2 g
- Chili powder: 2 g
6
Taste the eggplant mixture and add salt if needed.
- Salt: to taste
7
Shape the mass into balls the size of ping-pong balls. Serve this variation of pkhali deliciously with homemade cheese and corn flatbread mchadi.