Seven ways to cook eggplant: a Sephardic song and sephardic recipes

"Although eggplants were brought by the Arabs to Spain and Italy, Jews have been credited for introducing them because they took them to the north of these countries when they fled from the Almohades and Almoravides in southern Spain and when the Inquisition banished them from southern Italy. They remained forever associated with the vegetable and were exceedingly fond of it."

Siete modos de de guisados
se guisa la berenjena
La primera que la guisa
es la vava de Elena
Ya la hace bocadicos
y la mete en una cena
Esta comida la llaman
comida de berenjena

There are seven different ways
to cook eggplant.
The first recipe
is that of Elena's grandmother.
She cuts it into bite-sized pieces
and serves it for supper
and this meal is called
a dish of eggplant.

(A bocadico is a little mouthful.)

Eggplant Kebab on Rosemary Skewers (serves 2)

4 rosemary branches, 12 inches long
1 large eggplant (about 1 pound), cut in 1 1/2" chunks
1 - 2 red onions, cut in 1 1/2" chunks
1 - 2 green peppers, cut in 1 1/2" chunks
(cherry tomatoes)
Olive oil
Salt, freshly ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic

Cut the ends off the rosemary branches at an angle to make sharp points. Alternate chunks of eggplant, onions, and peppers on the skewers, starting and ending with a chunk of eggplant. Brush the vegetables with olive oil and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Puree 2 gloves of garlic and 1/4 tsp salt together, mix in 1/3 cup olive oil.

Grill the eggplant skewers over a medium hot fire. As soon as they're done, brush them with the garlic and oil. Serve immediately with a fresh tomato and onion salad, a slice of feta, a handful of olives, and crusty bread.

La segunda que la guisa
es la mujer del Shamas
La cavaca por arientro
y la hinchi d'aromat
Esta comida la llaman
la comida la dolma

The second kind
is that of the shammas's wife
She hollows it out
and fills it with herbs.
This meal is called
a dish of dolmá.

Dolmá, originally a Farsi word, is a generic term for stuffed vegetables. The Sephardim are particularly fond of vegetarian stuffed vegetables, which can be used at both dairy or meat meals.

Dolmá (stuffed eggplant)

Cut the ends off the eggplants. Quarter some onions and pull the layers apart.

Olive oil
2 large onions, chopped
Pine nuts (optional)
1-1/2 cups raw rice, rinsed
3 cups water
4 (1 pound) plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
salt, sugar, ground pepper
Dried currants (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until soft and translucent, 5 to 10 minutes. If desired, add the pine nuts and saute until golden. Add the rice and saute until well coated, 3 to 5 minutes. Stir in the water, tomatoes, parsley, salt, sugar, pepper, and, if desired, currants. Bring to a boil, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Let cool.

Sauce:

About 2 cups water
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
3 whole cloves garlic
1 to 2 teaspoons sugar
About 1 teaspoon salt

Arrange the rolls, seam side down, in layers in the prepared dish, with the onion you prepared at first. Combine the sauce ingredients and pour over the vegetables. Then weigh down the vegetables (in the middle east they use a "dolma stone"). Bring the covered pot to a boil, reduce the heat to low, and simmer until tender, about an hour. Let cool. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

La tracera que la guisa
es mi prima Ester di Chiote
La cavaca por arientro
y la hinchi d'arroz moti
Esta comida la llaman
la comida l'almondrote

The third one who cooks it
is my cousin Ester di Chiote
She hollows it out
and fills it with rice
They call this dish
the almondrote.

Almodrote de Berenjen (Eggplant Gratin) adapted from Joyce Goldstein's Sephardic Flavors

4 pounds largish eggplants
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 slices country bread, soaked in water, and squeezed dry
4 eggs
6 ounces fresh white cheese, crumbled (such as ricotta or feta)
1/2 pound gruyere or kashkaval cheese, grated
1/3 cup olive oil
salt & black pepper
1/4 cup freshly chopped parsley

Bake the whole eggplants on a baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for 30-45 minutes. You can also broil them for 20 minutes, turning often. Transfer to a colander.

When cool enough to handle, strip away the skin and remove the large seed pockets. Place the pulp on a cutting board and chop coarsely. Return it to the colander and let drain for 10 to 20 minutes to release the bitter juices. You should have 2-2-1/2 cups pulp.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Oil a 7 x 11 baking dish. Transfer the eggplant to a bowl and mash well with a fork. Add the bread, eggs, crumbled cheese, and all but 1/4 cup of the shredded cheese, and all but 2 tablespoons of the oil. Salt and pepper to taste. Spread mixture in the prepared baking dish.

Sprinkle evenly with the remaining 1/4 cup shredded cheese and the remaining oil over the top. Bake until golden and set, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve hot directly from the dish. from http://www.mariquita.com/recipes/eggplant.html

Almodrote de berenjenas

2 eggplants
2 big onions
200 grams goat cheese
3 hard-boiled eggs
breadcrumbs
Oil, salt, and pepper

The eggplant is best prepared on coals or a wood fire so the eggplants take on a smoky flavor. Cook them slowly until they are soft, then chop them. Roast the onions the same way.

Add the hard-boiled eggs, chopped, the slices of bread in small pieces, and the crumbled/shredded cheese. Season with olive oil, salt, lemon or vinegar, and pepper.

It's ready to be eaten this way, but at Passover it's eaten as a main course and at that time is spread in a pan with oil, is covered with lightly beaten egg and grated cheese and is baked in the oven for an hour, much like a moussaka.

La alburniya es saborida
en color y en golor
ven, haremos una cena,
mos gozaremos los dos
antes que venga el gusano
y le quite la sabor

The alburnia is a tasty recipe
both for its color and aroma.
Come, let's make a supper
to enjoy together
before the worm comes
and takes the flavor away

alburníya: fried eggplant in tomato sauce. Eg.:"alburniya" es una kumida de berendjena kon karne. (From Diksionaryo eksperimental Djudeo-Espanyol)

Alburnia (Eggplant in Tomato Sauce) from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska

Because fried eggplant absorbs a lot of oil, I oven-roast it instead. If you want to fry the eggplant, sprinkle the eggplant slices with a lot of salt and let drain for an hour or so (salt collapses eggplant's cell structure and helps reduce its oil absorption). Rinse off the salt, pat the eggplant dry, fry in olive oil until the slices are golden brown, and drain on paper towels.

Tomato Sauce:

2 pounds ripe tomatoes or 2 15-ounce cans whole tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 cup roughly chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil or mint
Salt
1/4 olive oil
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. Aleppo pepper or 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

Put the tomatoes, onions, basil and salt in a large pot and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes, stirring regularly. Put the tomato mixture through a food mill to remove the skins and seeds. Return the tomato mixture to the pot with the olive oil and sugar. Bring to a boil, turn down the heat, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring regularly. Taste and add salt, as needed.

Eggplant:

2 globe eggplants
Olive oil
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 450°F. Slice the eggplant into 1/2" cross-wise slices. Brush the slices on both sides with olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bake the eggplant for 15 minutes or until the eggplant slices are golden brown, remove from the oven, and let cool. Cut into 1" wide slices. Add the eggplant to the tomato sauce and stir gently, being careful not to break up the eggplant slices.

Alburnia recipe from Claudia Rosen:

Fried Eggplant Slices
Cut eggplants into 1/3 inch thick slices. Sprinkle generously with salt and leave in a colander to drain for an hour. Then rinse off the salt, drain, and dry with a tea towel or paper towels.

Jews of Arab lands fry the slices as they are, quickly, in hot olive oil about 1/4" deep, turning once, until lightly browned and tender, then drain on paper towels.

Jews of Iberian descent dip the slices in lightly beaten egg seasoned with salt, or first in flour, then in egg, before frying in not-too-hot oil. Italian Jews sometimes also dip the slices a third time in fine bread crumbs. The point of these coatings is to stop the eggplant from absorbing too much oil. Top with fresh tomato sauce.

Fresh tomato sauce

1 medium onion, chopped, or 2 garlic cloves, chopped or crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sugar

Sweat the onion or garlic in oil until the aroma rises. Add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and sugar, and simmer for ten minutes.

En las mesas de las fiestas
siempre brilla el jandrajo
Ya l'hacemos pastelicos
ellos brillan en los platos
Asperando ser servidos
con los guevos jaminados

The ?? always sparkles
on the banquet tables
We make little pastries out of it,
they shine on the plates
waiting to be served
with hard-boiled eggs.

I couldn't find a definition for jandrajo, but it must be some food, according to the poem below by the Sephardic poet Renée Behar de Huino:

NOCHE DE VIERNES
Cara de luna
Blanca y redonda
Manos de oro
La rosca blanca
Con susan dorado
El iogurt escurrido
En talega de lienzo
Con alceite de oliva
El papú, la babá
Asperando endjuntos
En la mesa blanca
Tifsines de boios.
Burrecas de jandrajo
Arrocico con tomate
El shabat espera
Los chicos se ambezan
Los grandes se ríen
La luna blanca
En lo alto mira.

Huevos Haminados

A favorite dish of the Sephardim: special hard-boiled eggs, made brown from cooking slowly in a pot filled with water and onion skins, and served on Shabbat or Passover. "Ham" is Hebrew for hot.

One dozen large brown eggs
three handfuls of red/brown onion skins
3 tablespoons - olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
water sufficient to cover eggs and onion skins
optional: teaspoon- coffee grounds

Bring eggs to the boil and then simmer very slowly for 4-8 hours. Check every hour to see if water needs to be topped off. Remove, let cool, but do not shell until just before serving.

Claudia Roden writes in her fabulous cookbook "The Book of Jewish Food" (see below):

Eggs cooked for hours or overnight, acquiring creamy buttery holks and light-brown whites, epitomize Sephardi food...

They are eaten on the Sabbath; at births and deaths and at all important moments of the cycle of life; at the end of Yom Kippur; at Passover; and to commemorate the destruction of the Temple...

The eggs are cooked in many traditional ways: boiled in a pan; or gently baked in the ashes of a dying fire; or stewed in a Sabbath pot with other ingredients; or on top of the lid.

In Egypt, we boiled them for at least four hours in a pan lined and packed with onion skins and with a tablespoon of coffee grounds, which we thought made the whites browner... the water was salted, and we added a few tablespoons of oil to prevent its evaporating...

According to tradition in Turkey, two people should not share one egg or they may come to hate each other. In my family we often shared them and there was no obvious change in our relationships.

La salata maljasina
es pastosa y saborida
Mi vecina la prepara
con mucho aceite de oliva
Estos platos accompañan
A los rostros de gallina.

The maljasina salad
is rich and tasty.
My neighbor makes it
with a lot of olive oil.
This dish accompanies
Left-over hen.

Maljasina (Sephardic Eggplant Salad)

The author wrote: "Long simmering allows the vegetables' natural flavors and a rich, smooth texture to develop. Usually, this type of dish is cooked in a fair amount of olive oil. In this version, I reduce the oil considerably. Adding water from time to time keeps the food from sticking to the bottom of the pan. The water also deglazes the pan and helps to produce that desired richness inherent in such dishes."

2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, peeled and diced
1 medium eggplant, unpeeled, sliced into 1" by 3" strips
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded, sliced in 1/2" rounds
1 (14 ounce) can diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 cup or more water
12 green olives
1/4 teaspoon harisa (spicy sauce made of hot peppers)

Pour oil into a large skillet over medium high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring until softened, about 5 minutes. Add eggplant, garlic, bell pepper, tomatoes with liquid, sugar, salt, turmeric and 1/4 cup water.

Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and slowly simmer for 1 hour. Check occasionally. If mixture sticks to the bottom of the pan, quickly add 2 more tablespoons of water to loosen the browned bits and stir to incorporate them into the sauce. After an hour, remove cover and cook until thickened.

Cool to room temperature. Add olives and harissa to taste. Serve at room temperature.

La setena que la guise
es mejor y más janina
la prepara Filisti,
la hija de la vecina
ya la mete en el forno
de cabeza a la cocina
con aceite y con pimiento
ya la llama: una meyína.

The seventh way it's made
is the best and most exquisite.
Filisti makes it,
She's the neighbor's daughter
She puts it in the oven
in an open dish with oil and pepper
and they call it a meyina.

Meyina (Baked Eggplant and Peppers)

Slice eggplants on diagonal 1/4 inch thick. Soak the slices in a large bowl of salted water for 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry (press hard with paper towels to get out as much water as you can because the more you get out, the more the sauce will seep in.)

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Core and seed the peppers and slice them into rings. Put the pepper rings on the sheet and drizzle with 2 tbs of olive oil and toss. Spread the peppers in an even layer on half of the sheet.

On the other half of the sheet, pile tomatoes and unpeeled garlic and drizzle lightly with olive oil. Bake for 45 min or until tender.

Roasted Eggplant Spread (Bulgarian Sephardic recipe)

1 eggplant (about 1-1/2 pounds)
2 whole jarred roasted and peeled red bell peppers, rinsed and patted dry
2 roma tomatoes
1-2 large cloves of garlic
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 Tablespoon red wine
vinegar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup Italian parsley
1 teaspoon sugar, optional

Roast the eggplant in a 425°F oven or over a hot grill, turning every 10 minutes until the skin is charred on all sides.

Place the eggplant in a 1-quart bowl. Slit the skin open from just below the stem to the very bottom of the eggplant. Let it sit for 15 or more minutes so the bitter juices will drain into the bowl.

Carefully peel the eggplant. Place the pulp in the workbowl of a processor (alternatively, cut all of the ingredients into small dice with a knife and fork).

Cut the peppers into 1-inch pieces and add to the work bowl

Cut the tomatoes in half crosswise and, holding the tomato half cut-side down over the sink, gently squeeze the tomato to release the seeds. Cut the halves into chunks and then add to the eggplant and peppers.

Pulse the processor on and off about 5 times. Add the garlic and pulse again until the mixture is coarse but well combined. Add the oil and vinegar and pulse on and off to combine. Season with salt and pepper and sugar (if mixture is slightly bitter).

Add the parsley. Pulse the processor on and off just enough to break it up and evenly distribute it.

Pour into a serving dish. Chill for at least 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld together. The mixture will thicken slightly. Serve with crackers. Yield: about 2 cups or 8 servings.

Syete modos de guizados
se gizá la berendjena
la primera de la guisa
es la vava de Elena
ya la aze bokadikos
y la mete en una sena
esta komida la yaman
komida de berendjena

La segunda que la guisa
es la mujer del Shamas
la kavaka por arientro
y la inchi d´aromat
esta comida la yaman
la komida la dolmá

La tresera ke la gisa
es mi prima Ester de Chiote:
la kavaka por arientro
y la inchi d'arroz moti
esta komida la yaman
la komida alomondrote.

La alburniya es savorida
en kolor y en golor
ven aremos una sena
mos gozaremos los dos
antes ke venga el gozano
i le kite la sabor

En las mesas de la fiestas
siempre briya el handrajo
ya l´azemos pastelikos,
eyos briyan en los platos
asperando a ser servidos
con los guevos haminados.

La salata maljasina
es pastosa y savorida,
mi vizina la prepara
kon mucho azete d'oliva,
estos platos akompanyan
a los rostros de gaynas.

La setena ke la gise
es mijor y más janina
la prepara Filisti,
la ija de la vizina
ya la mete en el forno
de kabesa a la kozina
con azete y con pimyenta
ya la yama: una meyína.