Let me just say that if you see a recipe that belongs to Moroccan cuisine, just try it. I’ve been surprised so many times and normally these dishes become a staple hold on our tables, this roasted eggplant and pepper Salad (Zaaluk) is no different.
This incredible Moroccan salad will totally blow your mind. The first time I made it I was thought it will be another salad that takes a lot of work to make and will kind of dissapear between the different dishes of a meal. I was so wrong, it stands out like no other! I’ve got so many compliments when making this, try it!
What is a Zaaluk salad?
Like many tranditional meals, there are different interpretations to the same dish. That’s what makes it so wonderful! This version consists of a very simple set of ingredients. Roasted and peeled eggplants and red bell peppers. A bit of olive oil, (fresh) garlic, cumin, chopped coriander (or parsley, or mint, or all), salt and and pepper. Also there’s an option to spice it up a bit more, totally up to you.
You can serve it as an appetizer, side dish, as a sandwich spread or next to your Hummus. But my absolute favorite is eating this together with my fresh sweet challah bread. The contrast of sweet soft bread with this smoky spicy salad and a good kick of garlic is just divine.
How to make it
You can roast your eggplants and peppers any way that’s easiest for you. For example, prick them a bit with a knife and put them straight on your gas top, your outside grill, or your fire wood oven, and turn them regulargly. Or you can cut them in half, rub some olive oil and place them on high heat in the oven. Sometimes I even stuff them with peeled garlic cloves! Whichever way you chose, make sure they are nice and burned from the outside, this will give the lovely smoky flavor of the dish.
When your vegetable is blistered and soft, place it in a pot with a lid and let it steam in there for a bit, this will help with getting the peel to easily pull out and allowing the inside of your vegetable to scoop out nicely.
After you’ve peeled your peppers and scooped out the eggplant, place it in the colander to let all the juices drip out, about 20 minutes. Don’t worry if some burned skin is still in there, this will give a lovely charred flavor
Chop it all up nicely, I like to cut the peppers into small cubes and the eggplant just freestyle with a knife, until finely chopped. Mix it in a bowl with olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh herbs, cumin, a pinch (or more) of chilli, salt and pepper. Serve at room temp and drizzle some olive oil on top.
Are you eating this delicious salad right now? If you made this, please take a picture and tag me on Instagram @kerenruben or Facebook Keren’s Kitchen and let me know if you’ll be making this again
Roasted Eggplant and Pepper Salad (Zaaluk)
Ingredients
- 3 Eggplants
- 2 Red bell peppers
- 1 Chili Pepper (optional)
- 1 Lemon
- 3 Big cloves of garlic, crushed
- 1 Tsp Ground Cumin
- 1 Bunch of Coriander (or parsley)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Start by roasting your eggplants and peppers. You can put them on your gas stove and turn them until they get are quite burned from the outside and completely soft from the inside. Or on your outside grill, or even in your oven on grill setting. If you’re in a hurry you can cut the eggplants in half (length wise), add a bit of olive oil on the cut side and place them cut side down on your oven tray together with the peppers, also cut in half and cut side down, seeds removed. Place them in the upper part of your oven with the upper grill mode on high and keep an eye on them until they are soft. When they are soft, turn the eggplants to have the cut side up for 5 minutes so they get a nice char on the top too. Place everything in a pot and close with the lid, wait for 15-20 minutes until they cool down.
- Scoop out the flesh from the eggplants, discard the skin. Mix the eggplants with juice from 1/2 a lemon and place everything in a colander to drain for 15 minutes.
- Peel the skin off the peppers chopp them finely, place in a bowl and add the drained eggplant.
- Add the cumin, coriander (or parsley), crushed garlic, olive oil, remaining lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix everything vigoursly together, taste and correct salt and pepper. Add more lemon juice or garlic if needed.
- Store in an airtight container, topped with some olive oil, and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.
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