My husband’s mother Judith was a wonderful cook. She was a sixth-generation Sephardic Jew from Israel, born on Carmel Mountain in Haifa. Judith was first and foremost a family woman who devoted her life to creating a warm and cozy home. She would spend her days in the kitchen and tending the vegetable garden, providing nurturing sustenance for her family. She cooked on a tiny tin stove and made everything from scratch. Her kitchen was full of love.
Unfortunately, I never had a chance to meet Judith. She passed away before I came into my husband’s life. Despite this, I still feel her presence strongly in our home, especially when we have family gatherings. Everybody speaks of the amazing meals she cooked, how she would spend hours and hours preparing a single meal. It amazes me how food has this power to pass on positive energy. A meal made with love can go on living long after the chef who created it is gone.
My husband’s sister Mooshi takes after her mom. She cooks with love and care, recreating Judith’s beloved dishes as well as her own creations. Last week, she shared a couple of her favorite eggplant recipes with me. I especially loved the following recipe, a cooked eggplant salad with peppers and tomatoes. It’s healthy and surprisingly filling, without any added meat or dairy. It’s meant to be served with bread, like challah– the bread can be dipped into the delicious sauce. As we cooked, Mooshi explained to me that eggplant was a staple in their childhood home. Judith often cooked eggplant because it was widely available and inexpensive. Both Mooshi and my husband adore eggplant, and now I understand why. It reminds them of Judith, of mom, of home. I hope you will enjoy this simple recipe as much as we do!
Note: If you’re gluten free, you can enjoy this recipe on its own or served as a vegan stew over rice or quinoa.
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Mooshi's Eggplant Salad
Ingredients
- 2 large eggplants
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- 2 red or yellow bell peppers, seeded and cut into chunks
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- Peel the eggplant in stripes, keeping a few strips of skin intact so they run down the sides of the eggplant vertically. These strips of skin will help to hold the chunks of eggplant together; they also add flavor.
Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium. Cut the eggplant into 1-inch chunks. Put half of the chunks into the skillet and let them fry for about 10 minutes.
When the cubes begin to turn golden brown, transfer them to a larger pot. Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to the skillet and fry the second batch of eggplant chunks the same way, for about 10 minutes till golden brown. Transfer the chunks to the large pot.
Add 2 tbsp of olive oil to the skillet and add the bell pepper chunks. Let them fry for about 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic and continue to fry for 2 more minutes, till the garlic is fragrant. 
Transfer peppers and garlic to the large pot.
In a mixing bowl, whisk together the tomato sauce, water, cumin, salt, sugar, crushed red pepper flakes and black pepper.
Pour the liquid mixture into the large pot and bring all ingredients to a boil.
Reduce heat to a medium-low simmer and cover the pot, leaving a small gap open to vent. Let the mixture slowly simmer for 1 hour till sauce is thickened and reduced. Remove from heat.- This cooked salad can be served hot or cold depending on preference. Our family enjoys it at room temperature. You can serve it with freshly baked bread if you wish. If you’re gluten free, you can enjoy this recipe on its own or served as a vegan stew over rice or quinoa.
Oh boy, does this sound (and look) good!!!! I’m printing it and will make it soon. I think I’ve printed out every one of your recipes, Tori!
Your Shiksa friend,
Carol
Enjoy Carol!
You must have gone through a LOT of printer ink, heehee…
It looks really good and beautiful and I love the story behind the recipe.
And it’s vegan, just for you Coco!
Thank you!!!
I enjoyed the story and the nice photos. The eggplant salad sounds very good. Any idea why you need to add water?
Hi Faye– this is the way Mooshi makes it, and it always comes out perfectly. I think the water loosens the sauce a bit. With that slow cooking for 1 hour, the sauce reduces quite a bit and the eggplant gets very soft. I think it would be overly thick without the water to help the texture. Hope you get a chance to try it!
Thanks. And you find that the eggplant needs the full hour to cook? It does sound delicious, with the pepper flakes and cumin as flavorings for the tomato sauce.
Allowing it to cook for the full hour really saturates the eggplant with the spices and sauce and softens it up to a wonderful texture. The eggplant turns meltingly soft, but those strips of skin help a few chunks to stay intact. You can shorten the cooking time, but the flavor won’t be as rich or developed. Also, the bell peppers need that extra time so they get nice and soft (including their skins). The pepper flakes soften up nicely with the longer cooking time, and the spiciness mellows. I think it’s terrific as written, but feel free to play around with the recipe and see what works for you! As I’m sure you well know, half the fun of cooking is playing with the recipe.
Thanks – looks wonderful. I love eggplant and will try, God willing, this variations to my usual “red” eggplant salad.
By the way – I grew up in Haifa so this post is especially meaningful to me
Had a lot of eggplant from my garden, made Mooshi’s dish and it was excellent. Can’t wait to serve to my cousins from Israel, I bet they will be just as impressed as I was.
You have great recipes and love trying them all. Your hamemtassen recipe was a very big hit..I used guava for the filling and was great. Keep them coming.
I am sure your mother-law is looking down at you with so much love and happiness in her heart. Her son lucked out.
Aww, thanks Phyllis! I’m so happy you liked the eggplant recipe, and the hamantaschen too.
This recipe looks and sounds delicious. When my uncle died my cousin had several different kinds of this salad. One was better than the next. Several different people had brought them to the house. I wish I had paid more attention to the brands. When my cousin came to visit me here in North Carolina she brought me some from New York. It just wasn’t the right one. So I hoping this is the ONE! It looks sooooo good.
I just made this tonight and have to say it’s one of the best recipes I’ve tried online.
Do you think this can be canned?
Hi, Shiksa, I can relate to your story as my better half is Israeli and we just came back from a big family reunion and a wedding. Every place we went to had some variation if this salad and I realized that eggplant/pepper salad is everywhere…and it is delicious! Sometime they add bulgarian (feta) cheese to it as well….So I want to try to make it at home and I think I am going to like your recipe because it is easy
. The ingredients are ready on the kitchen counter, so here we go! Thank you
I was so excited to see this recipe! I make a dish this very same dish with chickpeas added. Love it!
Chickpeas are a great idea Annette! I’ll try it that way next time.