Dried aubergine ✦

Aubergine séchée

What it is

In Gaziantep and Urfa small aubergines are hollowed out in late summer and strung up in the sun until the shells go papery, a winter store from long before refrigeration. Drying concentrates them into something smoky and dense that a fresh aubergine never becomes, whatever you do to it.

In the kitchen

Boil the shells three or four minutes only, just until pliable — any longer and they tear as you fill them. Stuff them two-thirds full: the rice swells and splits a tight shell open in the pot.

Goes with

Lamb Rice Tomato Pomegranate molasses Mint Allspice Olive oil

Same species

Bintje potato Black Krim tomato Bonnotte de Noirmoutier Chuño Datterino tomato Eggplant

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