Passport & Plate - chickpeas with aubergines
Greece | Friday, March 14, 2014 | 2 photos
Ingredients
this recipe makes 4-6 servings:
- 1/2 kg chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 6 aubergines long and thin, cut in 3cm slices
- 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 cup of chopped parsley
- 1 large fresh tomato
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
How to prepare this recipeWe rinsed the chickpeas and we brew them in hot water for eight hours. We drain them off and we scrape them off adding the baking soda to remove their shell and we rinsed them again.
We put them in a wide and deep pot, adding water up to the middle of it. As soon as it boils, scum come to surface and we have to throw it away with a vast spoon. Then, we add the onion and the garlic, the black pepper and the paprika.
While the chickpeas boil we prepare the aubergines rinsing them and cutting them into slices and we slightly fry them in olive oil.
When we notice that the chickpeas are softening up and just a small amount of water left in the pot, we add the tomato, the parsley, the oregano, the olive oil and the salt and we boil them for 15' more.
Finally, we add the fried aubergines and we slightly press them so as to be covered by the liquor. We reduce to the half the temperature of the electric stove so as to congeal the liquor.
We serve sprinkling chopped parsley above the dish and we accompany it with pickles, olives, smoked herring and dry red wine of good quality.
The story behind this recipeIt is about a recipe that my grandmother used to cook for the family, originally come from her home town in Nigrita, a small village in central Macedonia, Greece.
Actually, at my childhood I haven't shown respect for this dish; I don't know the reason. Maybe, because most of my friends and classmates had preferred dishes based on meat and in general easy made staff. It took me a long time to start appreciating my grandmother's speciality. Principally, when I left my parents's place for studies, I appreciated all these homemade food that I really missed when I have been far away from my home town. Even more, at this time that I live abroad and in a country (Switzerland) that has distinctive nutrition habits.
I am thoroughly confident that all have to do with memories. I am mentally linked to my childhood, to smells, to warm days during the summer returning from school cavilling for the prepared dish. It reminds me my deceased grandfather, who used to come overjoyed whenever my grandmother had cooked "chickpeas with aubergines". And, certainly, my father who always insists that vegetables cooked with olive oil must be eaten cold and even better the very next day.
Preparing this dish for the competition was a great opportunity for me to experience one more time this privileged combination of tastes, memories, desires and nostalgia for my country.
