What to do with an eggplant? Recipe for Marinated Eggplant Salad

Last weekend, as I was standing next to my stove, whisking a custard that would soon become pistachio ice cream, my mom called.

We chatted quickly about new things in our lives, I told her how much I was loving the Le Creuset her and my dad sent me for my birthday back in March, and then she told me that she was once again making a marinated eggplant dish one of her friends, Sveta, shared with her.

I've heard about this eggplant dish several times. Just like me, once my mom finds something she likes, she gets slightly obsessive about it (example: a dessert dish made with pretzels, whipped cream, fresh berries and jello).

As I continued to stir, I told my mom that I actually had an eggplant sitting in my refrigerator and maybe I should make the recipe. My mom quickly told me the list of ingredients, but I told her I'd call her later to find out the details.

A few minutes later, I was back on the phone with my mom: this time on a speaker phone. Writing down a recipe with one hand while stirring the custard with another takes talent....perhaps it's something that has been passed down from my mom who had to handle both me and my twin ;)

Marinated Eggplant Salad
recipe by my mom's friend Sveta

Ingredients
4 cups water
2 tablespoons salt
1 eggplant, about 1.5 pounds, sliced lengthwise into 4-5 pieces
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
1 cup chopped cilantro
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, microplane'd {if you don't have a microplane, mince the garlic}
1/3 cup vinegar {I used white wine vinegar}
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon boiling water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt

Directions

1. Bring 4 cups of water and 2 tablespoons of salt to a boil. Add eggplant slices and boil for 10 minutes. Remove the eggplant, let it cool and then slice across into bite size pieces.

2. In a bowl combine the eggplant with the rest of the ingredients. If you want, you can whisk the marinade ingredients separately: but I don't think there is any need for it.

3. Refrigerate the dish for at least one day.

Like mother, like daughter {at least in this instance}: I really liked this marinated eggplant salad. It's definitely something different, bright and healthy to make with the eggplant. You can eat this as is, or with some grilled meat. And if you are a vegetarian, I think you can add this salad to a bun, top it with a slice of cheese and put it under a broiler: what's not to like?

How do you like to cook with eggplant?