Sephardic Eggplant Salad

I first had this salad at my parent’s house around a year ago, and ever since then, I've been hooked!

I love serving this tomato-based eggplant salad at our Friday night meal, together with fish and challah. I feel good feeding my family food made with fresh and healthy ingredients! 

It’s a bit of patchke (Yiddish word that also means hassle/extra work), but the recipe makes around 10 servings and it freezes wonderfully. Plus, it is always fun to serve ethnic food!

My mother found the recipe on www.TheKosherchannel.com. Here is the link to the original recipe: http://www.thekosherchannel.com/Sephardic-Eggplant-Salad.html.  I really copy the recipe to a T, besides for omitting a few ingredients.

Sephardic Eggplant Salad:

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 45 minutes

Yields: 10 servings

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons oil

½ an onion, diced

1 medium sized eggplant, unpeeled, cut in strips 1” by 3”

1 green or yellow pepper, cut in ½ circles

1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes (not drained)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

¼ cup water

Instructions:

1-      Sauté onions in oil until soft and translucent in large skillet.

2-      Add the rest of the ingredients to the sautéed onions. Mix.

3-      Bring mixture to a boil.

4-      Lower heat. Cover mixture and allow it to simmer for 45 minutes, stirring every so often to make sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pan. 

5-      Serve warm or at room temperature, with plenty available challah/bread