Turkish Style Grilled Eggplant Salad Recipe

Every region in the Middle East seems to have their own version of the roasted eggplant salad recipe and each one thinks their version is the right one. So you’ll see people from particular regions in forums and comment sections saying you can’t put this in it or you can’t put that in it or whatever it is they’re not approving of.

But I see cooking the same way as I see my first passion which is painting. I think you should learn the rules and then break them. I’ll learn a recipe and then I’ll add or take away ingredients just to see what happens.

If someone tells me that I’m not allowed to add onions to a recipe I’ll probably add six onions and a bowl of ice cream and tell them it tasted wonderful just because I’m like that. So I’m not good at following rules or doing something just because it has always been done that way.

But getting back to the eggplant or aubergine salad recipe, I’ve stuck to the Turkish style as closely as I can tell. I don’t think I’ve actually tried this in a restaurant here in Istanbul so I have nothing to compare it to but it tastes Turkish to me! The Turks love to cook with eggplant and I love to eat eggplant so I’m in the right place.. hehe

It can be eaten as a side dish with meat like I have done today with Turkish meatballs or Kofte. I’ve seen the ingredients mixed into a dip consistency too which would be great with some Turkish pide bread. It would be more commonly eaten as a “meze” though, which would be served up like tapas. So maybe I have eaten this dish as I have eaten plenty of meze here in Istanbul since I arrived. I just point and guess what I’m eating when choosing meze as my Turkish isn’t very good.

Other names the dish could be called include Abagannuc, Baba ghanoush, or charred eggplant salad.

You can also eat it warm or cold. I like it best when it’s warm which is why I don’t wait for the eggplants or red peppers to cool down to peel or prepare them.

In Australia I rarely used eggplant to cook with as it always scared me a little. But the more I use it here in Turkey the more I’m comfortable using it, which means I use it even more. Eggplant is a wonderful ingredient to use.

I kept the ingredients to a minimum and you can add or take away things to suit your taste. So I used 3 medium sized eggplants, 3 red peppers, spring onions (scallions), parsley, lemon juice, green chilies, red pepper flakes or pul biber, salt, olive oil, and a splash of pomegranate molasses. You could also try tomatoes, garlic, various seeds and nuts, or your favorite fresh herbs. And don’t listen to people who say you can’t use this or you must use that ingredient. You’re eating it, you can do what you want with the recipe.

I used a large grilling pan to cook the eggplant and red pepper. I should have grilled them in two lots but I like to serve the dish warm so I charred everything at once. Remember to poke some holes in the eggplant with a knife or fork to prevent them from going pop.

While the eggplants and red peppers were being charred I prepared the salad ingredients. I chopped some scallions, a handful of parsley, and four green chilies (which were much hotter than I expected). You could add some tomatoes too at this point, but I chose not to today.

Most normal people then let the grilled eggplants and red peppers cool down before peeling the charred skin off them, but who has time to wait anymore? 😉 I like to serve mine warm anyway, so I insist on burning my fingers to achieve that objective!

Above is one of the eggplants ready to be skinned. They should be charred outside and the flesh inside the eggplant will be soft. I use a table spoon to scoop out the flesh. It’s a messy job, so don’t be too precious. Just jump in and get dirty.

Once you’ve scooped out the flesh of the eggplant it will look something like the image above. You can remove some of the seeds if they’re easy to get at but don’t try to get them all. Some seeds are fine. Roughly dice the eggplant flesh up though into smaller bite sized pieces and pop them into a large salad bowl.

The char grilled red peppers are also a messy affair. I first cut around the top of the pepper so that the seed stem easily comes straight out. You can then scrape off the skin, and dice it up into small bite sized pieces. Mine were straight off the grill and piping hot but you can wait for yours to cool down a little first.

I love the texture and look of a grilled red pepper that has been skinned. It’s so soft and beautiful.. and it has a smoky tastiness too. Yum. Don’t worry about cleaning them too well. A few seeds and some charred skin just adds character and flavor to the dish. I’ve seen people washing them under water after they’ve de-seeded and peeled the red peppers but I think that’s also washing a lot of the barbecued goodness off it too.

I decided to just put on some Kofte or Turkish meatballs to go with the grilled eggplant salad. These are just bought from my local Turkish butcher who is just across the road from my apartment here in Istanbul. Lots of fat in them but they’re super delicious!

This is all of the eggplants and red peppers prepared and ready for the salad. For me it’s still quite warm because I prepared mine when they were still piping hot. I like it as a warm salad, but it’s meant to be served cold.

Then it’s as easy as just combining the ingredients above. I like touching things and making a mess, so I just throw everything in a bowl and mix them with my hands.

Turkish people use this Pomegranate molasses or dressing for a lot of recipes. I’m not sure how difficult it is to find outside of Turkey as I’ve never used it outside of Turkey! It’s a new ingredient for me. Let me know if you have trouble finding it.

Here’s the finished recipe: Turkish eggplant and red pepper salad. I’ve served it on my friend’s fun and crazy cactus plate. The dish by itself is vegetarian and super healthy, but I decided to make it a full meal and add some Turkish meatballs. You could also make a few other Turkish dishes and serve them as meze (like tapas).

I garnished the Turkish eggplant salad with flat leaf parsley and served it up with some tasty Turkish meatballs. I’m not sure what spices my butcher puts in them but they’re always delicious. He doesn’t put much in them. He keeps them simple, includes lots of fat, and I continue to buy them by the tray of fifteen.

See my quick video below that I made for the Eggplant (aubergine) salad recipe. It’s the first recipe video that I have made so I still have a lot to learn. Please subscribe to the Good Food Recipes youtube channel here too as I don’t have any subscribers yet.

So I hope you enjoyed reading about the Eggplant salad recipe and I would love to hear from you if you have made it. Let me know in the comments below. Did you make any changes? Could you find pomegranate molasses or did you have to use a substitute?

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