I adore baba ghanoush. Actually I adore MY baba ghanoush. Which I always begin by smoking the tar out of a pile of eggplant. I met this vegetable on a pizza in the south of France and it was called an aubergine, so forgive me if I keep it that way. It sounds WAY more appetizing than eggplant, which is probably why I had never eaten one before. It was also the best pizza I had ever eaten until I began making my own and modeling it after the one I had enjoyed at “L’aubergine” restaurant in Provence. Apparently they liked the funny little veg-fruit too.

Well, I love grilling it with with sea salt and sprayed with a bit of extra virgin olive oil. It comes alive smoked, I’m telling you. But as most veg come alive through fermentation as well, I thought I’d give it a try.

Ingredients

• 3 Aubergine (eggplant) rinsed, quartered and cut into chunks
• 1/2 onion sliced and diced
• 4-6 cloves garlic, smashed or sliced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika, smokey ancho chili or red chili flakes
• 2 Tbsp kosher salt dissolved in 1 quart water (repeat in proportion if necessary)
• 68oz mason (I used to have a ton of these before I moved overseas… le sigh…) or big pickle jar

You can add other herbs, but I wanted this as close to basic as possible because as I said… I love to make baba ghanoush. Consider this the prequel to that post! I’ve recently started making a Romanian flavor profile version by leaving the coriander and mint off and adding roasted onion. SO good.

Fermented Aubergine

Brenna May

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Course Side Dish

Cuisine Mediterranean

Equipment

• 68oz mason
• Fermenting Weight

Ingredients

  

• 3 Aubergine eggplant rinsed, quartered and cut into chunks
• 1/2 onion sliced and diced
• 4-6 cloves garlic smashed or sliced
• 1 tsp smoked paprika smokey ancho chili or red chili flakes
• 2 tbsp pink salt dissolved in 1 quart water repeat in proportion if necessary

Instructions

 

• Sanitize mason jar and fermenting weight in the oven at 180°F for 5 minutes.
• Wash and cube aubergine and add to jar.
• Add spices, salt and non-chlorinated water/brine, leaving 1-2" room at the top.
• Cover the top with a bit of extra virgin olive oil and place fermenting weight on top.
• Seal the jar and leave for a minimum of 7 days.

Keyword aubergine, eggplant

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!