Eggplant Salad with Yogurt and Mint

Eggplant Salad with Yogurt and Mint

As you may already know, I can’t have enough of anything eggplanty. I absolutely love this vegetable. It is, perhaps, the most versatile vegetable on earth (eggplant haters, did you hear that?). Really, eggplant can take so many forms in cooking; it can be fried, grilled, stuffed, and sweetened (yes, they make sweet  eggplant preserves in Morocco and in Azerbaijan and maybe somewhere else), yet, it never fails to please one’s gastronomic senses with its unrivaled tantalizing taste.

Plain and simple—eggplant rocks! I cook with it often, as my ever eggplant craving palate tends to throw frequent fits demanding something made with the vegetable. I had another one of such fits yesterday and to suppress it, I set out to make my favorite eggplant salad with yogurt and mint. This salad is flavorful, refreshing, and downright delicious and making it is always as easy as a pie.

Here’s what I did. I first removed the bitterness from the eggplant cut into small cubes, then I fried those cubes in sizzling hot oil and drained them on paper towels. Some plain yogurt, crushed garlic, and mint added—the already delectable taste of the eggplant was jazzed up even further and the ultimate deliciousness was born. My fit’s peaceful departure ensued soon after.

Now, let’s talk about mint. You can use either fresh mint or dried mint. It’s a matter of taste. I personally prefer dried mint.  Whichever form you choose, rest assured that mint, in general, has an unparalleled ability to exalt the flavor of plain yogurt like no other and it is a great flavor pal of eggplant’s, too. Hence, the deliciousness. Enjoy!

Eggplant Salad with Yogurt and Mint

Serves about 4

Note: Adjust the amount of yogurt, garlic and mint, to taste.

Ingredients

3 pounds (1.5 kg) dark skinned eggplants (such as Japenese or Italian)
1/2 cup or more, if needed, olive oil, for frying
about 2 cups plain yogurt
2 gloves garlic, peeled and crushed
chopped fresh mint or crushed dried mint, to taste
salt, to taste

Directions

1. Peel the eggplant and cut it into small cubes (about 1/2 inch). Remove their bitterness as follows. Put a colander in the sink. Arrange the eggplant cubes in the colander, sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons of salt. Place a weight, such as a plate or lid, on top. Leave for 20 minutes, to allow the bitter dark juices to drain. Rinse and squeeze dry. An alternative way to extract the eggplants’ bitterness is as follows. Place the cubes in a bowl filled with cold water and add 2 tablespoons salt. Put a weight on top and leave for about 20 minutes. Rinse and squeeze dry.

Cubed Eggplant

2. In a medium saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat. When it is sizzling hot (never warm! make it hot!), drop the eggplant cubes in batches (do not overcrowd), and fry until golden all over, about 5 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel lined plate.

Fried Eggplant

3. When cool, put in a mixing bowl. Add the yogurt, garlic, and mint. Season with salt, to taste. Serve slightly chilled.

29 Comments

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  1. A delicious combination!

    Cheers,

    Rosa

  2. I love eggplant..& my friend who used to hate eggplants now loves them since she tasted eggplant rolls. I will try this way too..Time saver! Cool! Thanks!

  3. I did the same recipe but I added dill.Also because not everyone likes mint in food.Just dill would good too.I also tried chopping walnuts and adding 1/2 cup of sour cream.Try it delicious.

  4. This looks and sounds delicious!! I will make this soon.

  5. this dish looks & sounds so delicious to me!!

    Just lovely!!

  6. Eggplant raita? wow thats something very unique, will def give it a try someday!

  7. I like eggplants and your eggplant salad just look so delicious with yogurt, I’ll try it, since never had this way 🙂

  8. Je fais cette salade, sans la menthe. Je dois dire que c’est une salade délicieuse.
    La prochaine fois, ça sera avec de la menthe.
    A bientôt.

  9. This sounds scrumptious! I am with you, and adore all things eggplant. The combo of eggplant and mint with yogurt sounds so delicious!

  10. Eggplant is one of my favorite vegetable, it has an outstanding flavor and as you said, there are lots of methods to eat it. Turkey is one of those countries where it is sweetened. We make jam from eggplant. I’ve never tried to make it, maybe I can try it one day.

    I adore this combination of yogurt, eggplant, garlic and mint. I can have it at any time.

  11. salam
    so delicious your eggplant salad
    am moroccan, but I’ve never heard about sweet eggplant as a moroccan recipe, so would you mind tell how can i make this
    thanks a lot for your help
    Touria

  12. It is not that I hate it, it is just that I can only enjoy when prepared in certain ways 🙂

  13. Hey, we do the same salad in Lebanon too! Everybody loves it!

  14. I can’t agree more about the eggplant! Love it in any form!

    Salad seems fan6tastic!

  15. Nice blog you got right here… I enjoyed reading your posts. I’m sure I’ll visit here more often. Anyway, if you are interested, you can take a look at these amazing French macaroons and Almond macaroon cookies I’ve been trying to make.. It’s very hard though… 🙂 If you know how to make these, maybe you could give me some tips. Thanks!

  16. i love the veggie too! didn’t know u could get a sweet preserve of it. how interesting. do u eat it with toast then? x

  17. THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR COMMENTS.

    TOURIA: In Morocco they make candied eggplants. As far as my Moroccan cookbooks and my readings about Morocco tell me. I said sweetened in the post, but to be more precise they are candied baby eggplants.

    DIVA: We usually serve it as an accompaniment to tea. A bite of preserved eggplant , a sip of tea – in this order:)

  18. Have started cooking with eggplant quite recently, basically after finding out that you can actually make a lot of things out of it and they are cheap hehehe But why do you peel them?

  19. oh this looks fantastic love your blog Rebecca

  20. I tried it just recently at my friend’s house party from Kuwait, she is half Egyptian:-) and it tasted just wonderful. I’m making it today and will keep you posted how Ashraf and I enjoy it:-)
    Thanks for sharing the recipe!
    Good luck!

  21. Farida – this looks amazing – I wish I had you here cooking for me right about now! Your last few posts have been mouth watering and delicious.

    Love the new masthead as well – suites the blog very nicely.

    Hope you are well..
    Aysegul

  22. I’ll have you know I love eggplant.
    But, for some reason, I always end up making baba ghanoush (and yes, I might’ve butchered the spelling), but I love the stuff.

    However, I think it’s time I did something different with them. And your salad is the ‘something different’ I will try.

  23. This look like delicious! How I have this easier than make by myselt.
    Somebody help me? or I have to find sometime to make ti by myself.

  24. Hi Farida! Thanks so much for leaving such lovely comments on my blog!! You’re the best!

    My dad is a HUGE fan of eggplant just like you… and I’m sure he’d love this… So I must make it for him!

    Thank you so much for sharing!

  25. Thanks for Azcookbook sites.We need more delicious recipe.Bon Appitate!

  26. this is certainly very delicious. i tried it with my friends and it was devoured. how about having an eggplant fans club and whoever knows of a recipe could pass it on to others? thanks a lot.

  27. GEHAN – Eggplant fan club sounds good:) but at the moment, I have no time for it:)

  28. yum! i love eggplants! and the first time i had sweet eggplant preserves is in turkey!! my in-laws (they have an azeri background) make it using baby narrow eggplants, and leaving them whole.

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