This family recipe is one that I make when I’m really craving something salty and vinegary. Unlike your usual pickles, it’s made with balsamic vinegar, allspice, and bay leaf, which gives it a very unique flavour. It is one of my more labour-intensive recipes in that the eggplant has to be salted and pan fried before it can be pickled, but it’s worth it!

The best type of eggplant to use for this recipe is an Asian eggplant, which is long and thin, making the slices more pleasant to eat.

It’s important to salt the eggplant and let it drain for a couple hours in order to remove some of its water content. Without this step, the eggplant will take longer to cook when you fry it, will splatter a lot more, and will take on less of the pickling flavour. The frying step allows the eggplant to cook through and gives it a soft texture. Lastly, I really like adding onion to this recipe because pickled onion is just amazing on bread.

I really enjoy eating this dish as a snack or as part of my meal, usually in a sandwich or just on a piece of bread spread with labneh, hummus, tahini, or cream cheese. Because it’s pickled it also goes really well on a cheese board.

Yield: 8 servings | Cook time: 20 minutes | Time until ready: 4-5 hours

Ingredients

• 3 medium sized Asian eggplants
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3-4 tablespoons canola oil
• 10-15 whole allspice
• 5-7 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups boiling water
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• Optional: 1 small onion

Instructions

1. Slice the eggplants into rounds, around 1-1.5 cm in thickness.
2. Place the slices into a colander in a sink or over a large bowl. Sprinkle with the salt, toss to make sure all slices are coated, and let drain at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
3. Wash the eggplant slices thoroughly under running water to remove excess salt.
4. Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in a large pan over medium heat. Fry the eggplant slices in batches, 4-5 minutes per side, until both sides are slightly golden. Add an additional 1 tablespoon of oil between each batch. Remove from the pan and let cool on a paper-towel lined plate or bowl.
5. In a heat-proof container, combine allspice, bay leaves, and 1 teaspoon of salt with the boiling water. Let the mixture steep for a few minutes, then add the lemon juice and balsamic vinegar.
6. Layer the eggplant slices and onion slices in the pickling brine. Once the container is cooled, it can be placed in the fridge. The eggplant will be ready to eat about 2 hours after it is placed in the brine, and will last approximately two weeks in the fridge.

Nutritional information