“House on Fire” Turkish Eggplant Starter
Recipe by John Faulk and Nurcan Ercan-Faulk
When Nurcan and I were first dating, I would occasionally fly down to Istanbul for the weekend. During one of these trips, she prepared this for dinner and I remember thinking that it smelled like the house was on fire – hence the name! We often serve this classic Turkish starter alongside German bread and other appetisers. A light dish, it stands out with its smoky flavour and unique texture, which makes it ideal for spreading.
Course: Insalate e antipastiCuisine: TurkishDifficulty: Easy
Servings
+
-
3
servingsPrep time
5
minutesCooking time
0
minutesBaking Time
25
minutesTotal time
30
minutesIngredients
2 large 2 eggplants
1 tbsp 1 olive oil
1 tbsp 1 lemon juice
2 2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 tbsp 1 creamy yogurt
2 sprigs 2 of parsley
Salt
Directions
- Wash eggplants well and poke holes all over (about 10 times) with a fork.
- If cooking in the oven, preheat oven to 220 °C. Place in oven. After 15 minutes, turn eggplant over. Let cook for another 15 minutes. Make sure eggplant is soft inside.
- Before taking out the eggplant, add lemon juice to the dish.
- Take eggplant out of oven, put on wooden cutting board. Cut off the hard stem, then cut down the middle and spoon out the flesh into the dish with lemon juice. Add each half to the bowl and stir immediately to avoid the eggplant turning black. When everything is scooped out, mash down and mix everything well in the bowl with a fork. Throw away the skins – these are not to be eaten.
- Add yogurt, salt, garlic and olive oil.
- Mix well until everything is one uniform color.
- Let cool, decorate with parsley – and serve! Afiyet olsun!
Equipment
- Oven
- Wooden cutting board
- Fork
- Mixing bowl
Notes
- Stir the flesh immediately after scooping it out to stop the eggplant turning black.
- We often serve this alongside German bread and other appetisers.