Chef Ryan

Cajun Chef Ryan

Feeling & sharing a world of cooking ~ more than your average Cajun



 



Guest Blog Post: Zerrin of Give Recipe

January 24th, 2011 · 16 Comments

Enjoy learning about unique ingredients, flavors, spices, or techniques in the kitchen?

This is certainly one dish that I am thrilled to share, having never worked with or prepared dried eggplant. In my thirty-six years of cooking, it is a thrill continuing to learn new culinary delights, and that keeps me excited in the kitchen.

Let me introduce you to my guest, her name is Zerrin, she is the force behind her food blog “Give Recipe (www.giverecipe.com) enjoy Turkish Dishes”. She is revealing a unique recipe using dried eggplant. I am so happy to have Zerrin as a guest on Cajun Chef Ryan today!

About Zerrin

Zerrin of “Give Recipe”
Zerrin of “Give Recipe”

Zerrin is a Turkish woman living in Eskişehir, Turkey and working as a teacher. She feels happy when cooking something for her family and friends. It’s a pleasure for her to watch people with their smile on their face while eating.
Zerrin’s love of cooking started as a little child by messing her mom’s dishes up! Despite all her mom’s effort to teach her how to cook, she was happy as an ‘assistant’. What made her want to jump to an upper level was her dad’s compliments for the first dish she made herself. Finally, her husband, who claims that ancient humans were stronger than we are today as their main food source was meat, helped her love cooking meat dishes and improving vegetable dishes to make them more edible for him!

The Recipe
Here is Zerrin’s original recipe for stuffed dried eggplant, I hope you join me in welcoming her today!

Stuffed Dried Eggplant
By Zerrin of “Give Recipe” (www.giverecipe.com)

Stuffed Dried Eggplant
Stuffed Dried Eggplant

When I saw the post at Ryan’s blog about a call for guest posts, I said ‘I must join’ to introduce Turkish dishes on a different blog from mine. So I decided to give a recipe of a very common dish in our cuisine. We love to stuff things with various filling mixtures and most commonly we stuff vegetables like zucchini, grape leaves, cabbage, green or red bell pepper and eggplants. You might have tried these before. To make it more Turkish and more traditional, I decided to share how to stuff dried eggplants here. Have you ever noticed sun dried eggplants at a market before? If you ever happen to see them, buy and try. They have a different flavor than the fresh ones when stuffed. I make the vegetarian version, but you can also add mince or meats into the filling mixture. Also, I didn’t’ use pine nuts and currants but it’s very common to add these into the filling. So here is the recipe:

NOTE: The ratio of rice to dried eggplant pieces is 1 tablespoon of rice for each piece of dried eggplant. This recipe calls for 20 pieces of dried eggplant, therefore, the 20 tablespoons of rice. (1¼ cup)

Dried Eggplants
Dried Eggplants
Ingredients
20 Dried Eggplants
2 Liters Water, to boil the dried eggplants (1/2 gallon approximate.)
Cup Rice, uncooked (20 Tbsp)
2 Large Onions, minced
Optional Pine nuts and currants
¾ Cup Olive oil
½ Lemon Juice squeezed
1 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Tsp Mint, dried
1 Tsp Red pepper flakes
To taste Salt and ground black pepper
½ Bunch Fresh parsley, finely chopped
1 ½ Cups Hot water, divided

Procedure Steps
1. Heat the water in a pot and add the dried eggplants when it comes to a boil.  Let it boil for about 10 minutes or less until eggplants are tender. Take them out when tender,  wash them with cold water and drain.

Boiling the Dried Eggplants
Boiling the Dried Eggplants
2. Heat olive oil in a pan and saute onion in it. If you want to use pine nuts and currants, saute them with onions.
3. Add rice and stir. Season it with spices, add lemon juice and pour ½ cup hot water and cook it over low heat until water is absorbed.  Take it aside when it’s done and toss minced parsley into it.
4. Stuff dried eggplants with this mixture. Do it with your hands and leave a little space on the top as rice will rise when cooked. Place them in a pot.
5. Pour 1 cup hot water onto them and cook over low heat for about 30 minutes.

Boiling the Stuffed Eggplants
Boiling the Stuffed Eggplants
6. You can drizzle some extra virgin olive oil when cooked before serving. You can serve them warm or cold with yogurt. 
Stuffed Dried Eggplant
Stuffed Dried Eggplant

 

Bon appetite!
CCR
=:~)
©2011 CCR

Tags: Guest Blog Post

16 responses so far ↓

  • 1 Kristen // Jan 24, 2011 at 1:49 pm

    What a great guest post. I am pretty sure I cannot find dried eggplants in my neck of the woods, but that stuffing sounds like it would be great in another venue like zucchini. It sounds delicious.

  • 2 Gloria // Jan 24, 2011 at 2:42 pm

    I have been following Zerrin’s blog for a couple of weeks now and this was an excellent recipe choice for her guest post. I so want to try and make this dish. The middle eastern grocer I shop at doesn’t carry dried eggplants but were able to direct me to other places they believe may carry that type of product. The search continues.

    Thanks CCR for hi-liting Zerrin and the healthy Mediterranean style dishes she offers up.

  • 3 Amanda // Jan 24, 2011 at 3:36 pm

    Great post! Love Zerrin’s blog 🙂 and this dish looks fabulous!

  • 4 Boudreaux Ryan // Jan 24, 2011 at 4:00 pm

    Hey Folks,
    Here is one resource for obtaining the dried eggplant in the States. Amazon

  • 5 Kate @ Diethood.com // Jan 24, 2011 at 5:29 pm

    I am going to need to find, or dry some eggplants – that looks so tasty! Zerrin has some amazing food to showcase! I enjoy all of her recipes.

  • 6 fooddreamer // Jan 24, 2011 at 5:31 pm

    I am addicted to eggplant these days but have never had dried eggplant. Such an interesting take on it!

  • 7 MaryMoh // Jan 24, 2011 at 5:48 pm

    Thanks, Ryan, for having Zerrin as guest blogger. I love her blog too. She is such a gifted cook. This stuffed egg plant looks very interesting and delicious. I think it’s creative. Thanks very much for sharing, Zerrin!

  • 8 Suzanne // Jan 24, 2011 at 7:55 pm

    I’ve been following Zerrin for a while and always find her posts interesting and educational. Most excellent guest post!

  • 9 Gera@SweetsFoodsBlog // Jan 24, 2011 at 8:19 pm

    I know Zerrin for her beautiful Turkish recipes and this one isn’t the exception – delicious eggplant!

    Cheers,

    Gera

  • 10 marla // Jan 24, 2011 at 8:39 pm

    This stuffed dried eggplant sounds wonderful & great guest post.

  • 11 Belinda @zomppa // Jan 24, 2011 at 10:49 pm

    Great to meet you!! This is a beautiful post and a lovely presentation.

  • 12 Boudreaux Ryan // Jan 25, 2011 at 1:12 pm

    So happy to hear all the wonderful comments and welcoming Zerrin in her guest post.

    If I have not gotten back with some folks expressing a similar interest, I will do so in the next few days.

    Bon appetit!
    =:~)

  • 13 Megan // Jan 26, 2011 at 12:16 pm

    Such a unique recipe! Love it and Zerrin.

  • 14 The Chocolate Priestess // Jan 26, 2011 at 1:31 pm

    That looks very awesome and you explained the preparations so well I might even be able to do it even though I have never, ever made eggplant in any form.

  • 15 sherry lee // Jan 29, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    i love trying different types of food & this looks good!(yum)

  • 16 Ingeborg // Jan 29, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    I simply love Zerrin’s blog. Lovely for you to have her as a guest blogger. Excellent choice. Personally, I love Turkish food. I was first introduced to Turkish food in 1968 in Germany. Over the years we have also had several Turkish neighbors. It’s always wonderful to learn from different cultures.