Eggplant Relish/Pickle

I had been meaning to make eggplant relish for yonks, and I finally got around to it recently (as some will have noticed on my latest IMK post).  A few readers have asked me for the recipe, so I am doing a quick post here.  I can take no credit for it, as it is from the blog: In Search of Golden Pudding.  Beck says she got the recipe from Charmaine Solomon's book Complete Vegetarian Cookbook.  She adapted it a wee bit, and I've adapted hers a wee bit, so here we are.  Only a few photos as I wasn't expecting to blog it:-)

delicious on all sorts of things - spicy, oily and tangy

Makes about 1 Litre/34 oz:

ingredients:

1 kg. (35 oz) eggplant, diced or sliced thickly - see notes

12 dried red chillies - see notes 

2 large cloves garlic, chopped

a hefty 4-5 cm piece of fresh ginger (about the size of my thumb, don't cha know), chopped or grated

2 tbs black and/or yellow mustard seeds

1½ tsp ground turmeric

200-250 mL (6½-8 oz) EV olive oil or vegetable oil of your choice - see notes

3 tsp sea salt

100g. (3.5 oz) brown sugar

185 mL (6 oz) vinegar - I used a mix of whatever vinegars I had in the pantry

2 tsp garam masala

Method:

If using dried chillies, soak them in boiling water for 5 minutes

Combine the chillies, 2-3 tsp of the soaking water, the garlic, ginger, and mustard seeds in a blender or processor, and blend/zap to a rough paste

Heat 200 mL of the oil in a large saucepan, then add the spicy mixture plus the turmeric

Stir the spices in the oil for a few minutes, then chuck in the eggplant, and give it a good stir.  If it looks too dry, add the other 50 mL of oil

Let it cook away on a low heat, with a lid, till the eggplant is soft (25 minutes or so?) stirring now and then so it doesn't stick or burn

Add the salt, sugar, vinegar and garam masala

Let it simmer away for another 5-10 minutes till thick (the oil will be sitting on top most likely)

Cool for a few minutes, then put into sterilised jars.  Will last for months in the fridge!

If you find it too oily for your liking, just put the whole shebang through a strainer, like I did

Notes:

The eggplants I bought weighed about 400 grams each.  I used 3 of these fruits (actually berries), and ended up with roughly 1.2 kg.  I kept back about 120 grams for another dish

I used six frozen red chillies and some chilli powder as I had no dried ones

Beck says to use a neutral oil, but we love EVOO chez Pickings so I used a whack of it, with some plain sunflower oil added in.  She also said to use 375 mL (12.5 oz) which led to a swimming pool of oil!  I ended up straining the relish, which worked out fine.  But I suggest using 200-250 mL (6½-8 oz); you may still need to strain this, though she does say it is meant to be oily, and her photos prove this

This recipe is so much easier than others I've seen around the Net - no frying off of spices, nor salting and rinsing the eggplant and so on.  It's really rather simple, and tastes great.  And will be even tastier once it has sat in the fridge for a few weeks to mature.

cook away on a low heat for about 25-30 mins.

bottled and heading for the fridge

© Sherry's Pickings