What to do with an Eggplant? Charred Eggplant Salad & Childhood Memories

The smell of charred eggplant makes me think of my grandparents. They would always cook a whole eggplant directly on the flame of the gas stove and then mix the flesh of the eggplant with marinated (at home!) tomatoes, chopped white onion and sunflower oil.

Sometime last week I did something similar with my own spin on it and decided to take a few photos not just with my phone, but also with my DSLR. Please make this recipe! You will love it. I ate it for dinner, but it can also be a quick side dish or a dip.


1 eggplant
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 white onion, chopped
1-2 tablespoons chopped basil
drizzle of sunflower oil
salt & pepper to taste

1. Place the eggplant directly on the flame of your gas stove. Rotate every few minutes with tongues until all of the eggplant skin is completely black.
2. Place the eggplant in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to cool.
3. Once the eggplant has cooled, slice it in half and remove the flesh. Mash the flesh of the eggplant in a bowl.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. Serve with bread or pita chips.


Dixya Bhattarai RD said...

i love eggplants and I often make baba ganoush :) your version looks very delicious as well.

Olga @ MangoTomato said...

Thank you! Hope you try this one out.

Guy said...

Regarding the slate cover-up on top, I would advise taking a hi-res pic of the background separately and using that to sample from instead of blowing up a smaller area from the image itself. I would also use the airbrush tool and darken the white right edge of the bowl.... Or adjust you the mask you used so that the edge isn't white... or run the blur tool along the edge so it matches the rest of the rim. Finally, to help the image pop, we remove the grey and define a true white point by opening up levels (image..adjust...levels) and dragging the white marker to the left to where the curve in the histogram drops off... by default its 0/1.0/255, for this image 10/1.0/230 removes the haze. Try it out (unclick the preview button to see the difference)! #shitphotoshoppertips

Erika K said...

Oooh I was just wondering what to make with an eggplant I was just given--thanks for the inspiration! This. Looks. Fabulous.

Olga @ MangoTomato said...

What perfect timing! I have a few other recipes with eggplant on the blog too. Please come back and leave a comment and let me know if you made this.

chezsasha.com said...

Mmm... This is one of my favorite Russian foods. My mom also adds a splash of white vinegar :)

Megan said...

Mmmm! Looks so good. Love the tomatoes in there too!