Makdous

Boiled first, then salted and left upside down overnight to drain, because any water left in them will spoil the jar.

Vegan.

Ingredients

the aubergines

• 1.5 kg small baby aubergines
• 3 tablespoons salt, for drawing

the filling

• 200 g walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 2 red peppers, very finely chopped
• 6 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 teaspoons chilli flakes
• 2 teaspoons salt

to keep

• 600 ml olive oil, roughly

Method

1. THEY ARE BOILED FIRST, THEN SALTED AND LEFT UPSIDE DOWN OVERNIGHT TO DRAIN, because any water left in them will spoil the jar. This is a preserve kept for months under oil at room temperature, and water is the one thing that will ruin it -- it separates out, sits beneath the oil, and ferments. So the aubergines are simmered until just tender, slit, rubbed inside with salt, and stood cut-side down in a colander for twelve hours with a weight on them. A surprising amount comes out. Skip it and the jar goes cloudy and sour within a fortnight, and it cannot be rescued.
2. THEY ARE BOILED ONLY UNTIL A SKEWER JUST GOES THROUGH. Eight to ten minutes for small ones. Underdone they stay tough and bitter in the jar; overdone they collapse when they are stuffed and fall apart in the oil.
3. THE SLIT IS DOWN ONE SIDE ONLY AND THE STEM STAYS ON. A pocket, not two halves. The stem and the intact far side are what hold each aubergine together through salting, stuffing and months in a jar.
4. EVERYTHING THAT GOES NEAR THEM MUST BE DRY AND CLEAN. Jars sterilised and dried, hands dry, a dry spoon every time one is taken out. This is a room-temperature preserve with no vinegar in it, and the only things protecting it are the absence of water and the exclusion of air.
5. THEY MUST STAY COMPLETELY SUBMERGED UNDER THE OIL. Packed tight and topped up so no aubergine breaks the surface, and topped up again after a day when the level drops. Anything above the oil line will go off and will take the jar with it.
6. THE WALNUTS ARE CHOPPED, NOT GROUND. Coarse pieces. They stay crunchy for months inside the aubergine; ground to a paste they go oily and soft and the filling becomes indistinguishable from the flesh.
7. The aubergines simmered whole 8 to 10 MINUTES, until a skewer JUST goes through.
8. Drained, and each SLIT DOWN ONE SIDE ONLY with the STEM LEFT ON.
9. Rubbed inside with the 3 tablespoons of salt.
10. Stood CUT-SIDE DOWN in a colander, WEIGHTED, for 12 HOURS.
11. The walnuts, red peppers, garlic, chilli and 2 teaspoons of salt mixed for the filling.
12. Each aubergine patted dry inside and STUFFED firmly.
13. Packed tightly into STERILISED, DRY jars.
14. COVERED COMPLETELY with olive oil and left to settle.
15. TOPPED UP after 1 DAY so nothing breaks the surface.
16. Left at room temperature 2 WEEKS before eating.
17. TESTED after a fortnight: the oil should be clear and smell clean. Cloudiness or a sour smell means water was left in them.
18. Keeps 6 months submerged. A DRY spoon every time.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes