A very interesting thing happened to me today. While having coffee with my friend Lilly E. We started talking about Syrian food. I was excited about the cook book I received from my husband as a birthday gift (Aromas of Aleppo, which I will feature in this blog soon) and she in turn showed me her Syrian Jewish cook books. The oldest one she owned was given to her by her mother, born in Aleppo, Syria. It is called Syrian Cooking and the author is Grace Sasson. It is an old and beautiful simple book, the phonetic of the recipes a little weird for our modern standards, and I have chosen to feature one of her recipes (page 19), Baba Ghanuge, as I said from her book Syrian Cooking (RGD Publishing). This is the front of the book, followed by the recipe:
Baba Ghanuge
(Eggplant & Tehene Salad)
(Serves 4)
Ingredients:
- 1 medium size eggplant - broiled, 5 minutes on each side
- 2 tbs. tehene
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 lemon
- 1 tsp snowbar-pinenuts
- few springs parsley
Preparation:
Wash the eggplant. Then broil on top of stove. Scoop it out from shell in a deep plate. Add salt to taste and crush garlic and add. You can add garlic or onion salt if you prefer. If you do, the ammount I'd say is the tip of a teaspoon.
Now chop it while it is in the plate with tip of knife. Make a paste of the tehene with a tablespoon of water and add it to the eggplant; garnish with the chopped parsley and snowbar.
Serve either chilled or at room temperature.
Note: Eggplant is placed directly on stove, no pot or pan. Skin will burn, but inside of eggplant will be tender and done just right.
