What does a girl do when she falls in love at the first bite? It’s hard enough to survive love at first sight- and those temptations are omnipresent – that cute little black dress, the stylish shoes that make the legs go on for ever, that sexy red handbag, the earrings with a dazzle – sigh! The list is endless and then a girl has to go and fall in love at first bite with Mirza Ghasemi.
It happened one night in a quaint little Persian restaurant. We place the order and on a whim decide to try Mirza Ghasemi for an appetizer. Out it comes and is placed right next to some mouth watering lamb and chicken kebabs. And the girl looks at the simple looking dish and thinks – the best tasting dishes are the ones that don’t need too much styling and automatically reaches for it first. When everyone else was ooh aahing over skewers of lamb, she was falling deeply madly and irrevocably in love with this simple dish.
Then the girl comes back and yearns- first loves do that you know! So the girl texts her best friend “google” and seeks help and type Mirza Ghasemi and hopes for the best. The Miss know it all google points her to Azita and her wonderful blog of recipes, memories and stories. And the girl could breathe again. The original recipe for Mirza Ghassemi was on Azita’s blog . !! The girl could Dance with Joy!
Azita does mention that adding onions would make it ‘not authentic’, but I felt I liked them better with Shallots – just the way they were served at the restaurant.
It is a quintessential Northern province dish based on its use of abundant garlic. From the shores of the Caspian sea to my home – Mirza Ghasemi!You have arrived!
Plan :
- 1 small shallot
- 1 large eggplant
- 2 eggs – beaten
- 1/2 C chopped tomatoes [peel and chop]
- 1/4 tsp turmeric
- Salt to taste
- 3 heaped Tbs chopped garlic
- Pepper to taste
- 2 Tbs oil plus some to grease the tray
Procedure
- Slit the eggplant lengthwise and put the cut side down on a pregreased baking sheet in an oven that has been preheated at 425*F
- spray some cooking oil on the skin side too and make some incisions.
- Cook for about 20 – 30 minutes. My oven takes about 25 minutes to cook these through
- Allow them to cool and then scoop out the meaty parts, leaving the peel on the tray
- Chop them fine and keep aside
- finely chop the shallot
- Heat up oil, saute the shallot until golden, add the garlic and allow it to cook until it changes color slightly. Dark is not handsome. Not in this case girls 😉
- Add in the eggplants, turmeric and cook until the liquid dries up.
- Now add the tomatoes and the salt and cook until everything blends well
- With your favorite spatula, make some space in the center of the pan by moving the eggplant mixture to the sides.
- This space is where the beaten eggs go in and settle in for a bit and then you stir the eggplants back into the space and mix them with the eggs
- Add in the pepper.
- Give it a taste test
- Then another taste test.
- What? We need to serve it? sigh! Give in after another taste test!
Gather some Warm pita bread / naan, lemon wedges and fresh herbs and plate the Mirza Ghasemi in the center and stand back to watch them finish this off in moments. Smile ! Because soon you will be on another enticing journey of the culinary type.
Until then –
Stay Blessed. Stay in Love
Ansh