Ingredients

Prep Time 30 min

Cook Time 45 min

Total Time 1 hr 15 min

Serves 4

What You Will Need

4 large aubergines (approx. 1.3 kg)

1 large onion 

2 cloves garlic

5 walnuts

3 tbsp kashk 

200ml water

250 ml extra virgin olive oil or vegetable oil
(you can use less if you prefer)

3 tbsp dried mint

2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp black pepper

The Method

Step by Step

1. Peel the aubergines and cut them lengthwise into 2cm thick slices. Salt them generously and leave them for 30 minutes, so some of the moisture comes out of them. This will speed up the frying/roasting process because the high water content of the aubergines will already be reduced.

2. In the meantime peel the onions and chop them fine julienne or dice. I personally prefer fine julienne.

3. Peel and finely chop the garlic cloves.

4. Fry the onions over medium heat in 3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil for about 5 minutes, season it with turmeric, salt and pepper and fry it about 10 more minutes until they are golden brown. Set half of the onions aside for garnish.

5. Add 1 tbsp of oil to the same frying pan and fry the chopped garlic over low to medium heat for about 5 minutes. Be careful not to burn them. Set half of the garlic aside for decorating.

6. Rinse the aubergine slices to wash off the salt. Dry them with paper towels. Heat 200 ml of oil in a large frying pan fry the aubergines until they are golden brown or rob the aubergine with oil and roast them for 20-30 min in 220 C in the preheated oven until they are golden brown. I recommend the roasting method as it doesn’t need a lot of oil.

7. Mash the fried/roasted aubergines with a fork or potato masher. Don’t blend them as you still want the stringy texture of the aubergines to remain.

8. Combine 3 tbsp of kashk with 200 ml of room temperature water until it is fully dissolved and you have a thin white mixture.

9. Now transfer the aubergines with half of the onions and garlic into a pan. Add the kashk – water mixture and season it. Don’t add any salt as the kashk is already very salty. You can add salt later if needed. 

10. Let the Kashk-e Bademjan simmer over low heat with the lid on for about 30 minutes.

11. In the meantime you can briefly fry the dried mint in 1 tbsp of oil. The temperature shouldn’t be too high. Fry it only for seconds, so it doesn’t burn. Set it aside for later.

12. Crush or chop the walnuts.

13. Taste it and add salt if needed. If there is lots of oil on the surface, you can skim it off with a spoon now.

14. Serve it on a flat bowl plate and garnish it with the other half of the onions and garlic, the fried mint, more kashk and crushed walnuts. 

You can have it with Persian flatbread (lavash) or any kind of bread you like.  Enjoy ☺