Stuffed eggplant is not as common as you may think. While Pappoutsakia (Imam Byaldi) are a form of a stuffed eggplant, this dish is more like a traditional yemista (or Greek-style stuffed vegetables). Yemista versions are numerous, but typically are made with peppers and tomatoes. We have stuffed onions, we have stuffed squid, and we have stuffed grape vine leaves. Now, we are trying it with eggplant. We chose to use the thin, Chinese eggplants for this dish, though any other type would work, too. The beauty of a dish like this is that even if the eggplants have blemishes or bruises, you can cut away that part of the vegetable and use the rest. They are cut and gutted, so the skin with a little of the eggplant meat form a base at the bottom of the dish. Using day-old produce with bruises keeps this dish very economical and practical for last minute meal preparation.
For this recipe, you will need the following:
4-6 eggplants (we're using long Chinese-style eggplants for this recipe)
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup chopped parsley or dill
1 onion, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup rice
1 -2 TBSP oil
2 TBSP tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste
As usual, our first step is to wash the produce, the parsley, and the mushrooms. Chop the onions, mushroom, garlic, and parsley, and set that aside for now.
Slice the eggplants in half lengthwise. Make sure to remove the stem end and any blemishes or bruises from each eggplant.
In a shallow pan of boiling salt water, boil the eggplant halves for about 5 minutes to soften the meat in the middle. You want to cook the flesh side down for five minutes, and then boil the skin side for another two minutes. Make sure the water is salted because this, too, will help remove some of the bitterness in the flavour of eggplant. You will know the eggplants are ready when the middle looks soft and turns a greyish colour.
Set each eggplant half aside while you finish boiling all of them. Allow them to cool enough to handle with your hands, but still warm to make the next step easier.
Now, with a spoon, a grapefruit spoon, or a melon scoop, remove the centre of each half so that you leave about 1/4 inch of eggplant meat against the skin. When the eggplant is warm, the centre will peel away from the skin rather easily. Collect all the eggplant meat in a pile and chop it up so that you have small pieces, and set that aside.
Lay the eggplant shells in a large baking dish or casserole to get ready for the oven. You can put a little oil in the bottom of the baking dish or not -- that is your choice. We chose not to, but if you do, you will find this dish will be more in the category of Ladera Fagita (oil-based dishes).
In a frying pan, heat the oil. Fry the onions, garlic, and mushrooms together at the same time until everything is soft and cooked. Season lightly with salt and pepper.
Add the chopped eggplant to this mixture and fry this so the eggplant is fully cooked.
Once the vegetables are cooked and seasoned as you like, then it is time to add some tomato paste. We used about 2 Tablespoons of paste because we don't want the tomato to cover the flavour of tyne garlic and eggplant. The onions add a little sweetness and the mushrooms add to the texture of the dish. The tomato adds some nice colour, but if you really don't like it, then just add a little bit. The tomato paste, when fried, brings a richness to the flavour of this meal and binds the vegetables with the rice.
After frying the veggies with the tomato paste for 3 to 5 minutes, add the rice.
Mix this well so that all the vegetables are coated with tomato and so that all the rice is too. The rice will start to absorb any liquid in the pan and any oil that remains. You will find that the mixture may start to stick a bit to the pan. As that happens, add a bit of water to de-glaze the pan, or simply to unstick everything. Allow this to simmer together for two or three minutes. Most of the water will be absorbed by the rice, or it will cook away in the hot pan.
Now add the parsley and turn off the heat. Mix the filling well so that all the components are evenly distributed in the pan. Check the seasoning and adjust the salt and pepper to your liking. Make sure the filling tastes the way you want, because that is what you will get once it is baked, too. Then, set this aside for a moment.
Now it is time to fill the eggplant shells that are waiting in the baking dish.
Fill each shell the best that you can. Because we used thin eggplants, the available space is narrow and difficult to fill. We spooned in as much filling as we could, and then, distributed the remaining stuffing all over the top of the eggplants.
Pour some water in the pan -- about 1 inch of water. Technically, it should be a full cup of water so that the rice cooks at a two to one (rice to water) ratio. But, you may need a little more water than that. So, make sure the water is about 1 inch deep in the baking dish.
Bake this in the oven at 375ºF (about 190ºC) for about 40 minutes until the rice is fully cooked. The top part of the filing will turn crunchy in the oven, but check the rice under the top layer to see if it is cooked through. If you need to add a little more water for the rice to cook for a longer time, then do so. Once the rice is cooked through, the dish is done. See how beautiful all the components look when baked together. You will find the filling is not solid, but sticks together because of the tomato and the starch of the rice Serve this hot or warm, and use it as a complete meal or with a side dish of your choice, and enjoy.
"Humility is constant forgetfulness of one's achievements."
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