Eggplant Şakşuka (Shakshuka)

One of the things I have done in the past that unintentionally impressed Delphine was to cook a vegetarian dish that I learned from my sister-in-law. Şakşuka (pronounced shakshuka) is a blend of fried vegetables, topped with garlic tomato sauce, which is different than the Tunisian egg dish with the same name. It's great as a side dish or an appetizer. While some versions contain zucchini, this one has the basics: potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and green pepper.

The amount of ingredients we use are the same i.e. matching amount of potatoes in volume for the same amount of eggplants. The idea is, we fry each vegetable separately, and add it as a layer. You can mix them in the end, but each spoon should have the same amount of different vegetables when you eat. While the same volume does not translate to same weight, I figured that's a close estimation.

Ingredients

• 1 lbs of eggplants, cut in cubes
• 1 lbs of potatoes, cut in small cubes
• 1 lbs of green bell pepper, chopped
• 1 lbs of ripe tomatoes, cut in small cubes
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• salt, olive oil to taste
• cooking oil

Preparation

Cut the head of the eggplants, peel them in zebra pattern. Lengthwise cut in half, then half again. Chop in pieces that are about half-inch wide. Massage them with salt, submerge them in water. Let them soak for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime, you can fry the other ingredients (once the eggplants waited long enough you will squeeze them in your hand so they lose their bitter juice)

Cut the potatoes in small cubes. Preferred way is to deep fry them. After they are fried, set them aside, preferably on a paper towel to get the excessive oil. (Deep) fry the peppers, put them on paper towel, then combine with the potatoes. If you haven't already, drain the eggplants, squeeze their juice out in your hands, and fry them. Combine all the fried vegetables on a (big) plate/container.

The last layer is the garlic tomatoes. This is the only vegetable that won't need deep frying. As a matter of fact, you can use little bit of olive oil to cook the tomatoes. First, add the crushed garlic to hot oil until it's fragrant. Add the small cubes of tomatoes. Stir while cooking for 3-4 minutes. This will be the top part of the dish.

You can leave them as layered, or mix them all (I like it mixed). Add salt to taste. If the olive oil from the tomatoes are not enough feel free to add more.